The Forgotten Millions

By PAUL KRUGMAN

More than three years after we entered the worst economic slump since the 1930s, a strange and disturbing thing has happened to our political discourse: Washington has lost interest in the unemployed.

Jobs do get mentioned now and then — and a few political figures, notably Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, are still trying to get some kind of action. But no jobs bills have been introduced in Congress, no job-creation plans have been advanced by the White House and all the policy focus seems to be on spending cuts.

So one-sixth of America’s workers — all those who can’t find any job or are stuck with part-time work when they want a full-time job — have, in effect, been abandoned.

It might not be so bad if the jobless could expect to find new employment fairly soon. But unemployment has become a trap, one that’s very difficult to escape. There are almost five times as many unemployed workers as there are job openings; the average unemployed worker has been jobless for 37 weeks, a post-World War II record.

In short, we’re well on the way to creating a permanent underclass of the jobless. Why doesn’t Washington care?

Part of the answer may be that while those who are unemployed tend to stay unemployed, those who still have jobs are feeling more secure than they did a couple of years ago. Layoffs and discharges spiked during the crisis of 2008-2009 but have fallen sharply since then, perhaps reducing the sense of urgency. Put it this way: At this point, the U.S. economy is suffering from low hiring, not high firing, so things don’t look so bad — as long as you’re willing to write off the unemployed.

Yet polls indicate that voters still care much more about jobs than they do about the budget deficit. So it’s quite remarkable that inside the Beltway, it’s just the opposite.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/opinion/18krugman.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

From SMH letters...
Sphere and loathing

If, as we are told by your learned scribes, the Earth is spheroidal, an oblate spheroid, round, flat etc, how on earth is it possible for us to travel to the four corners of the world (Letters, March 18)?

Peter Lightfoot Roseville

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Gus: er..... Let me think.... I know, I know... I know the answer to that one:... it's because we never think outside the square?...

(an oldie but a goodie).... In these letters (19/03/11 SMH) there are a few wrongly bagging the carbon tax, rightly bagging George Pell and some about the bible being cherry-picked... etc...

North Queensland halfback Thurston, arguably the best player in the game, had pleaded not guilty to grade-two contrary conduct, contact with referee, which resulted from his collision with referee Matt Cecchin during last Saturday's game against the Warriors at Dairy Farmers Stadium.

A guilty decision would have forced him out of the NRL game between Penrith and the Cowboys at Centrebet Stadium on Sunday and also the series-deciding Origin III at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday week.

NSW are seeking to end the most dominant period by either state in Origin history, after the Maroons won five series in a row, and it will also be the last Origin match for Queensland five-eighth and captain Darren Lockyer, who is retiring from representative football at the end of the year.

Thurston, the Maroons' halfback and Lockyer's regular partner in the playmaking duties during that reign, would have been crushed had he been forced to miss the Origin game. He was thrilled when the verdict was handed down, but it was by no means a quick decision by the panel.

Read more: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/revealed-how-thurston-escaped-origin-ban-by-a-whisker-20110623-1ghkm.html#ixzz1Q9SnYStD


Thurston Gus: No sir, I am not guilty of flooring the referee even by accident. it was the referee who was in the wrong, sir... Case of the whistle blower being in the wrong place at the wrong time, sir... And I could not see him since I was running with my eyes closed... And the rules that sez players should not touch the referee is obviously slanted to favour the cockroaches and slam the cane toads. See story at top...

Officials stood down over golden-point blunder that sparked Sharks fury

Referee Jared Maxwell and touch judge Jason Walsh have been dropped for an incorrect decision that Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan claims cost his team victory against Wests Tigers yesterday.

After reviewing the match, referees coaches Stuart Raper and Bill Harrigan declared that Maxwell had incorrectly penalised the Sharks for offside following a charge-down in golden-point.

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Raper and Harrigan said match officials would be accountable for their performances and have announced that Maxwell and Walsh will be stood down from round-two matches this weekend.

“We are not going to drop every referee who makes a mistake, but this is a mistake that clearly should not have been made and the circumstances of this decision warrant the action we have taken,” Harrigan said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/the-charge-down-standdown-referee-and-touch-judge-dumped-after-sharks-slipup-20120305-1uckq.html#ixzz1oDE1gp9W

See top story and picture...

 

Video referee Phil Cooley has been sacked from officiating NRL matches this weekend following his blunder that potentially cost the Canberra Raiders victory against the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night.

But on-field referees Gavin Badger and Brett Suttor have survived the axe, with referees boss Bill Harrigan backing their "judgment call" in Blake Ferguson's controversial no-try.

Harrigan said there was no defence for Cooley, who incorrectly ruled that Melbourne Storm prop Bryan Norrie was on-side during Cooper Cronk's seventh minute try.

As revealed in today's Canberra Times, Norrie was clearly in front of the kicker, Cronk, in the lead-up to the try and interfered with the play.

The Storm converted the try, giving them six points. It was a costly mistake, with the Raiders going on to lose by five points.

"As a result I've stood down the video ref, because that's a ruling error," Harrigan said.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/canberra-raiders/video-ref-sacked-after-raiders-blunder-20120306-1uh6m.html#ixzz1oIpzcBxX

 

A FURIOUS NSW captain Paul Gallen blasted State of Origin referees Matt Cecchin and Ben Cummins, telling them ''this is out of control'' as Queensland took a 1-0 series lead on the back of three controversial decisions at Etihad Stadium.

Michael Jennings's first-half sin-binning - which later saw the banished centre charged with contrary conduct for which he will face a one-match ban with a guilty plea - and then a debatable penalty against Greg Bird and Robbie Farah for lifting Cooper Cronk left the Blues livid. Both led to tries from Darius Boyd to eradicate NSW's early ascendancy.

There was even more outrage in the final 10 minutes when Queensland centre Greg Inglis was bizarrely awarded a record-breaking and match-sealing try despite dropping the ball over the line. Video referee Sean Hampstead ruled that Farah had deliberately knocked the ball from Inglis's grasp with his foot.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/are-you-for-real-gallen-blue-in-the-face-after-referees-calls-20120523-1z5rw.html#ixzz1vjZ5Mngn

See article at top...

AN INDEPENDENT analyst engaged by NSW officials to review Origin I has found that Queensland were able to get away with 10 incidents that warranted penalties, while match officials missed just one infringement by the Blues.
The findings from Wednesday night's controversial 18-10 loss in Melbourne have reinforced the view of NSW coach Ricky Stuart and his players that the Maroons play by a different set of rules in Origin.
So furious was Stuart in the wake of the loss, which has the Blues at risk of a seventh consecutive series defeat, that he instructed his players not to give interviews in the lead-up to Origin II as a protest.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/analyst-blows-whistle-on-maroons-dirty-play-20120525-1za5w.html#ixzz1vxQTUAjS

Furious North Queensland coach Neil Henry has accused NRL referees of not being up to the standard the competition deserves after his side went down 22-12 to premiers Manly in Friday's semi-final at Sydney Football Stadium.

With the scores locked at 12-12, the Sea Eagles scored two contentious second-half tries to win the game and book a clash with the Storm in Melbourne next Friday for a place in the grand final.

Henry and his skipper Johnathan Thurston were livid after the game, following the decisions to award efforts by Jorge Taufua and Michael Oldfield.

Both were given the benefit-of-the-doubt by video referees Paul Simpkins and Steve Clark, with the Cowboys claiming Taufua made a double movement before touching down.

But the decision to give Oldfield's try left the visitors feeling robbed after Kieran Foran appeared to knock the ball forward from a Daly Cherry-Evans kick, allowing Jamie Lyon to bundle the ball towards Oldfield.

"The players in this competition have taken the game to the next level," Henry said.

"There is no question as the quality of our product, but we're not keeping pace in the officiating.

"Our season hung on a couple of decisions and I don't care if you put five in the video box.

"I am not saying they are biased, they are incompetent."

Thurston said he was angered by the loss and claimed during the game to referee Shayne Hayne that his side had: "Twice been robbed."

"Those decisions, they can't justify them, I am just gutted by them," Thurston said after the match.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-14/controversy-reigns-as-manly-cruels-cowboys/4262852?WT.svl=news1

 

All is well........

Sydney has won the Melbournishian football game grand final in Melbourne and Melbourne has won the Sydney-Cider Rugby biffo league grand final in Sydney... keeps the spirit of revenge going... So, while the Storm (Melbourne) won against Canterbury (the only Sydney team left in the comp) in Sydney, I will do my Ted Bullpitt impression here in regard to the Swan (Sydney) winning against (Melbourne) in Melbourne...  "How come you call Aussie Rules 'Football' when the players aren't bleeding?" which they often are in the other game called Rugby League...

 

Thus the Melbourne Storm washed the stench off from their purple jerseys they had collected when they'd won two Rugby league premierships by cheating on the salary cap... The premiership had then been taken from them when the bad smell was discovered... Thus yesterday they won fair and square, unless the referees helped them there a little bit... which was my biased impression when, after a day out, I turned on the teevee and the first thing I see is a blatant referee "error" within the first 15 second of watching... It may not have been like this all he way into the game, but...

See, a Canterbury player, in the grip of a tackle though still standing, was passing the ball backward to one of his mates but one of the Storm player in that tackle punched the ball to the ground towards the Canterbury camp... In my book this should have been a forward pass against the Storm... but in a magnanimous whistle blowing gesture, the referee awarded the scrum to the Storm... I said to myself why am I watching this crap and turned off the box...

Anyway Melbourne Storm and Canterbury Bulldogs were two teams that used to be part of Super League before the merger of the two comps... It's a long story but if my memory is correct, Melbourne was totally funded by Mr Murdoch and given to John Ribot as a present for having helped formed Super League, then taken away from him when money was getting tight from advertisors as Ribot's team was only winning the wooden spoon... Thereafter, Melbourne rorted the salary cap equation for a few years to attract class-players by adding secret bonuses to their official wages... Canterbury on the other hand was an ARL buoyant team which Mr Murdoch bought with gold bullions. When the two comps (ARL and Super league) got merged, Canterbury kept Murdoch's cash or what was left of it (about $35 millions) but don't quote me on this...

 

Ahahaaaaa... All is well in the best of the world of games in giant bowls — 100,000 + spectators in Melbourne MCG and 86,000 in Sydney at the (Sponsor's name) Stadium... Keeps commentators busy, advertisers funding cash and the teevee operating for a couple of days away from the dramas of the world...

And does this not keep the spirits boiling in both cities...

What else do we want? "Sydney" winning both codes?

Impossible...

All is well... Even if you haven't understood a word of what I wrote here... History is hysterical, isn't it?

All's well...

 

 

 

Bill Harrigan and Stuart Raper have been sacked as the NRL referees’ co-coaches.
The pair have paid the price for a series of controversial officiating decisions throughout the season, with the ARL Commission now on the lookout for replacements. Russell Smith will hold the post on an interim basis while the league considers its options.
It is understood Raper and Harrigan only learnt their fate this afternoon and that the ARLC has made the news official via a press release sent shortly after the Herald broke the story on Twitter.
The season was marred by a series of video refereeing decisions, most notably the contentious Greg Inglis’s ‘‘obstruction’’ try during State of Origin and a series of tough calls against North Queensland in their finals loss to Manly.

 

General Manager of Football Operations, Nathan McGuirk, said that the restructured referees team was needed.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/referees-bosses-bill-harrigan-and-stuart-raper-dumped-by-nrl-20121026-28am0.html#ixzz2ANXoJsWV

 

 

In the Russia-Algeria futbol game in Brazil today there was a very nasty incident. Although the commentators dismissed it "because the light was not directly in the eyes" of the Russian goalkeeper, Someone was shining a laser light at him. It travelled on his face in a way that tells me someone had an ocular to aim the device with such precision. As everyone should know, apart from the dorky commentators, a light, including a laser light, shining in your direction greatly reduce your ability to see — and reduce your ability to JUDGE DISTANCES for a few seconds. 

It is my view that this incident which resulted in a goal from a corner, in which the Russian keeper "seemed to have misjudged where the ball went" was in TOTAL breach of the game. The goal should have been disallowed. The corner should have been retaken with at least a ten second delay to allow for the eyes of the goalkeeper to readjust...

My strong view. Hell! 

Quite outrageously, a laser light was also used in the 2010 World Cup. (see item above). A laser-light was see to be very-well targeted against the coach of the Germans in their winning match against Argentina. Who know which players the light also targeted... 

Avery Krut’s farewell letter to the parents of Beverly Hills is the literary equivalent of a flying kick to the shins.

“This will be my last year as your referee administrator and I will no longer be the game scheduler,” he wrote, announcing his decision to step down from the American Youth Soccer Organization’s (AYSO) branch in Beverly Hills.

“And there’s a reason, I have come to despise so many of you and I hold so many of you in contempt. Your behavior on the sidelines has, for far too long, been disrespectful and you are damaging the children. You have said nasty things to and about too many referees and it must come to an end. I can no longer be involved with so many people who feel so entitled.”

The letter, first revealed by the Hollywood newsletter the Ankler, is a cry of anger directed at the soccer moms and dads of Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, the Pacific Palisades and other gilded neighbourhoods in west Los Angeles.

Krut, 57, is a native New Yorker and political consultant who, like other coaches and referees, volunteered to help run games for 1,800 children in Beverly Hills, aged four to 17.

His letter lamented parents who shouted aggressive, disrespectful comments from the sidelines.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/22/beverly-hills-soccer-ref...

 

Read from top...

Six again. You can talk about the 2019 NRL grand final until you feel like you've rubbed your larynx with sandpaper but these are the only two words you will ever need to say.

Six again. The phrase will forever evoke one of the most infamous incidents in NRL history, a moment of gobsmacking confusion that turned an incredibly engrossing contest into an utter farce.

Six again. The very mention will forever fill Canberra Raiders fans with despair, taking them back to that moment deep in the second half when the game was there to be won by their defiant heroes.

The score is 8-8 and the Raiders have had the Sydney Roosters trapped near the goal line so long they could claim property rights in their defensive twenty.

The Raiders kick, the ball rebounds back into their hands and then … what?

Must they put on a final play or do they have another set with which to launch yet another raid on the Roosters' heavily fortified line?

The answer comes quickly and unequivocally. Referee Ben Cummins standing near the in-goal directly in the attacking Raiders' line of sight waves his hand in a gesture that can only mean one thing.

Six again!

So eventual Clive Churchill Medal winner Jake Wighton is not guessing when he takes a tackle and gets ready for another set. His actions are directly and unquestionably guided by the referee's call.

Six again!

And then it isn't six at all. The call has been changed. The Roosters have the ball and moments later they have scored the winning try.

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-07/two-words-the-2019-nrl-grand-fina...

Read from top.

 

 

Read also: 

no problem with huawei... 

 

the worst referee EVER SEEN on a football field...

 

Note: the stadium at top haas been demolished to wake way for ... a big hole... See:

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/36199

Beattie said he understood the feelings of the Raiders and their fans but that it would have been just as bad if the wrong call was allowed to stand and Canberra had gone on to score from an error.

"I have a lot of sympathy. You know what happened. I got beaten up on Twitter and social media about this," he said.

"I have been called all sorts of things. I didn't know I was refereeing to be honest. There was controversy about it.

"If the mistake hadn't been corrected, imagine how it had gone the other way, if the Raiders had scored and there was a mistake?

"The reality is this is — at the end of the year we do a review of all parts of the game and that will include refereeing."

Beattie promised that the review would take the incidents from the grand final into consideration.

"Graham Annesley pointed out last night — he is as honest as the day is long — he looked at it and said the right decision was made," Beattie said.

"Of course we don't like what happened, but at the end of the day we have to find a way to move on, and the way to do it is to review it at the end of the year."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-07/peter-beattie-backs-officials-nrl...

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The right call for the referee would have been to ask for a scrum with an Eastern Suburb feed, when he realised "his mistake" if there was one. Giving the ball to the Roosters WITHOUT GIVING A CHANCE TO THE "confused" RAIDERS TO REGROUP, WAS AN EVEN BIGGER MISTAKE THAN HIS ORIGINAL FUCK UP. That last try was an opportunistic result from the confused referee adjudication. It should not have been allowed. All in all, despite what the "officials in suits", like Peter Beattie and Graham Annesley, are saying to try and salvage the referee's decisions, the whole thing was a major cock-up... 

The "grand final" referee should be sent to cultivate dandelion by the side of the road to hell.

Read from top.

I must have been watching a different game. One was played by England according to the rules of Shakespeare-on-Rugby and the other one seemed to be played to the tune of Napoleon with a whistle... Here is how the French press saw the denouement:

Excellent in the final between South Africa and England, Jérôme Garcès played his last match as a professional referee

No one can dispute South Africa's victory over England in the Rugby World Cup 2019 final. And no one can dare to say that Jerome Garcès is there for anything. The Bearn native of Arudy, in the valley of Ossau, shone by his discretion. No inadvertent whistle, no risky decision. In a word, a perfect arbitration.

The French will never forget the laxism of South African referee Craig Joubert in the raging defeat of the Blues against the All Blacks in 2011. Jerome Garcès, has completed his career of a 56th international match without blemish. Ideal for bowing out, at 46, at the end of a 2019 year in the form of apotheosis.

Never had rugby rugby yet placed one of his own to lead a meeting of this level. Welsh man Nigel Owens, the star of world refereeing, has not been disappointed, he who will have whistled happily in the match for the first place of the Six Nations Tournament, the final of the Champions Cup and of the final of the Top 14.


https://www.sudouest.fr/2019/11/02/coupe-du-monde-de-rugby-l-arbitre-bea...


Can I say RUBBISH?… Are we allowed to place the head of referees in a toilet bowl these days without being taken to the court of god Himself (god is a male who plays Rugby in Heaven)?.

It appears to Gus's totally slanted views that this great Napoleonic referee was constantly enamoured with the sound of his whistle, especially in penalising the Poms with a smile (we could imagine) for far less infraction than the South Africans were dishing out penalty-less. The South Africans saw this and took their opportunities. A few times this Vercingetorix avec un sifflet appeared to be completely blind to South African forward passes… (I saw one crucial one but who cares, the referee was looking at the English with his music ready to blow). At the end of the day this Louis the XIVth warrior had to bear fruit against you, no matter how good you were.

In my humble rotten opinion, the result was thus heavily weighted by the French Revolution (beaten by the Poms, when one of their players got thrown out for a foul) in favour of the South Africans.

Towards the end of the game, the Poms, now timid in their defence to avoid yet another whistling Rossignol, seemed to be giving up and I would have done the same: it's not a good thing to be pulped by boofheads from the southern hemisphere under the protection of a colonial referee: thus live another day with a full set of teeth for the next season.

Would I say that the French referee took his revenge on the English for beating the French at Waterloo? Well, from the first whistle-stop, I guessed the referee was “French” though I did not know. And guess what… Of course Eddie Jones cannot complain, nor can I.

Overall, it was a classic bum-crap game with no entertainment value — not even watching brawn fighting boofheads and a whistling Marechal… It was one of the worst game I ever saw on the idiot box. Lucky, the women, shown on the “other channel”, were batting it out in Perth's WBBL. The way they played was refreshing and intelligent. Switching channel was like opening a window of fresh air, away from the sweaty testosterones...

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