Factual, mostly

Dear Editor,

I love the way Mike Hendricks starts his 8/6 column "By the way MOST of this information is factual" I guess what isn't factual is up for him to decide.

You also got to admire him when he goes on to say "SOME information may be correct and SOME may suit my own political persuasion."

In other words some information is correct and some he just made up.

Here's what Mike forgot to mention, and yes, like Mike, I did cut and paste.

1. Spending did drop a sharp 0.7 percent in June from the previous month. But Mike forgot to mention that the consumers splurged in May, ratcheting up spending by a strong 1 percent.

High energy prices took a toll on our wallets and made us cautious buyers.

2. On the unemployment rate, Mike forgot to paste the part that unemployment actually dipped to 5.5 percent last month, down from 5.6 percent in June.

The new rate is the lowest since October 2001. There's more, the figures he boosted about were calculated off of payroll figures which don't indicate the household survey which counts self-employed workers. These figures in the same AP article showed the number of people who actually found new jobs increased by 629,000 in July.

I don't want to get into the Clinton comparison, but it would be interesting to find out which survey Mike used to come up with the 22.7 million new jobs?

I'll tell you, it was a combination of the payroll and household survey. I guess this would fall into SOME information may be correct or MOST of the information is factual. Heck it could be both.

3. The President is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. It's just too bad that some people have to make a political issue out of the President's desire to keep the homelands secure.

4. I believe both parties could clean up their language in this area. At least the Republicans claim to present some kind of morality. And lets not forget John F****** Kerry's interview in Rolling Stones magazine along with "I'm Catholic, but pro abortion."

5. Regardless of how they rate his job performance, nearly seven in 10 like him as a person. Nearly six in 10 say he is honest and trustworthy and two-thirds rate him a strong and decisive leader. And if I were betting, I would still bet on Bush.

The advantages of incumbency and Bush's record-setting fund-raising give him an edge.

Kirt Matson

McCook