Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Eric Clapton style

Psychopaths: Bush and Most Republicans

B’Man: As if I had to explain this to anyone, now we have research and documented proof that Bush and most Republicans (which includes ALL ReTHUGlicans) are psychopaths (and I would argue narcissists, as well):

Textbook descriptions of George Bush reveal psychopathy, and much worse.

by Ed Martin

The research of Dr. Hervey Cleckley and Dr. Robert Hare exploring the personality and character traits of psychopaths, when applied to George Bush, shows that Bush fits exactly the profile they developed for the psychopath. Demographis show that Republicanism is much worse than psychopathy.

An excerpt from the book Blood Relations, by Eric Konigsberg, about his great-uncle Harold, a convicted murder:

Hervey Cleckley in his book, The Mask of Sanity, describes the psychopath as a certain type of cruel manipulator whose harmful actions are accompanied by an absence of delusion. The psychopath, he wrote, “does not hear voices. In theory, he can foresee the consequences of injudicious or antisocial acts.” A psychopath is a person who knows full well the difference between right and wrong and yet, without compunction, chooses to do wrong. Checkley cited the protagonist of The Incredible Charlie Carewe, a novel by Mary Astor, as a quintessential psychopath. “Charlie is a genius in reverse with dangerous charm. Sisters lie for him, parents defend him, friends obey him. While calmly and casually, Charlie Carewe literally gets away with murder.”

George Bush has calmly, casually and gleefully murdered a million innocent Iraqis. So far, he’s gotten away with it.

Robert Hare got first hand experience with psychopaths while working at a prison near Vancouver. Hare describes one inmate as having a winning personality, and he used it to test the limits of what Hare would do on his behalf. He lied endlessly, lazily, about everything, and it disturbed him not a whit whenever something in his file contradicted one of his lies.

Reid Meloy, a forensic psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, says of the psychopath, “Typically the way a person like this maintains an inflated view of the self is by devaluing other people, taking advantage of them. If you look at the trail of a psychopath, you will see it littered with wounded, angry people.”

Yes, better than 70% of the people in the United States alone, not counting more than 20 million people in Iraq and an untold number in the rest of the world are wounded and angry.

George Bush uses a derogatory nickname for just about everyone around him. Turdblossom. He also uses the diminutive to belittle. Brownie for a grown man.

Hare developed a system of identification for psychopaths that includes various personality and character traits:

Glibness/superficial charm, grandiose sense of self-worth, pathological lying, cunning/manipulative, lack of remorse or guilt, shallow affect, callous/lack of empathy, failure to accept responsibility for own actions, parasitic lifestyle, lack of realistic, long-term goals, irresponsibility, criminal versatility.

I don’t have to list examples of Bush’s actions and behavior for you to match them up with the above list, but let’s take one, failure to accept responsibility for own actions. When Bush was asked if he had ever made any mistakes, he replied that he couldn’t think of any. That’s just one. Another is parasitic lifestyle. Bush has lived off of relatives, friends and the government all of his life. He now lives in government provided housing and receives government provided funds to live on. Perfect examples. The rest fit just as well.

Some more character traits of the psychopath that fit George Bush perfectly:

Uses defense mechanism of projection, blaming others for own faults, impervious to anxiety, depression, unremorseful, lack of self insight, no self humor, can’t stand to be the butt of jokes, uses neologisms, makes up strange new words, lack of probity, courtesy, doesn’t tolerate society’s niceties or obligations, does not learn from mistakes, tends to think in concrete black or white terms.

That last one is the same as Bush’s “You’re either with us or you’re against us.” Another perfect example.

From the inordinately high number of Republicans who exhibit some or all of these psychopathic traits, such as Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Rove, Addington, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Pearle and Feith, to name just a few, and those such as Cunningham, Abramoff and others who are in prison for their psychopathic acts, we would have to think that either psychopaths naturally became Republicans or that Republicans, for some abnormal reason, admire and elevate psychopathic behavior as the highest ideal to be emulated.

Normal distribution would show the rate of psychopaths born to be evenly distributed among the population. But, as we have seen, there is an abnormal nimber of psychopaths among Republicans. There just can’t be that many more psychopaths born to Republicans than to anyone else. It has to be learned behavior by people brought up as Republicans. Their immersion in Republican culture and society naturally warps their minds and leads them to think that psychopathy is normal, ordinary behavior. They’ve been taught that way of thinking as the highest ideal and that it is the only way to deal with the world.

The proof for this is the fact that Republicans agree with and support the leading psychopath of the nation, George Bush. We could deal with and accept this had they come by their psychopathy naturally. But, this adoption of psychopathy as a lifestyle, from the learned behavior of the psychopathy of Republicanism unnaturally increases the number of psychopaths to unacceptable, unnatural levels.

There is one advantage to us for this increase in psychopaths above the expected number among Republicans. Since we now know that the preponderance of psychopaths are Republicans, when they reveal themselves as Republicans, its much easier to identify the psychopaths among us, to be forewarned, and be prepared to take defensive action.

Ed Martin is an unindicted curmudgeon. He is not a Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, deist, atheist, or a member of any -ism.

h/t

http://www.opednews.com

Jen’s Update: More Tests Needed

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30, 2008 10:39 AM, EDT

No Consensus, Advanced MRI Ahead

Entry by TRH from Ohio

Greetings Jen Nation!

Just spoke with my sister who heard from UAB this morning — where else can you get such timely, free news coverage!?!?!?

Unfortunately no consensus yesterday among the doctors reviewing the “brightened area” in the MRI. Dr. Fivash (radio-oncology) still thinks it could be lingering effects from the radio-isotope. Dr. Nabors (neuro-oncology) thinks it could be more serious, and Dr. Guthrie (neurosurgery) is “puzzled”, in my sister’s words.

So I’m sure it’s frustrating for my sister to be in a holding pattern, but I’m glad the doctors care enough to be absolutely sure.

So they’ll now schedule her to come back to UAB for another MRI, but this one has some advanced characteristics that will hopefully bring the medical team to consensus regarding ongoing treatment. Depending on that, a needle biopsy also may follow.

Sis reminded me she is a Grade-4 (on a scale of 5), making it all the more important that they make the right decision in a timely manner.

So let’s pray for the doctors and my sister to hang in there a little while longer! Thanks for your prayers and support — ours is with you too! – TRH

Would You Be Covered??

Would you be covered under John McCain’s health care plan? I wouldn’t.

 

Regardless of who wins the Democratic nomination, that person will be running against John McCain. What is his position regarding women’s rights to choose?–Basically, his position is to do everything possible to stop a woman from having reproductive choices. And when it comes to McCain’s healthcare plan, anyone with a preexisting medical condition should be very concerned.

I was watching ABC’s Sunday program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos

John McCain was being interviewed, first on the economy, then on his healthcare plan, and then on Barack Obama’s patriotism. I thought I would take some time to address McCain’s plan (or lack of) for healthcare.

Unlike Clintons and Obamas plans, McCain doesn’t seem to think it’s important to insure everyone have quality and affordable healthcare. It actually seems like his plan is to see how happy he can make the health insurance industry.
Over 40 million Americans do not have health insurance, and under the McCain plan, neither will people with preexisting conditions. So, who won’t be covered? Anyone with a preexisting condition such as…

Asthma

Diabetes

Any Type of Cancer

Heart/Blood Pressure Problems

All Chronic Illnesses
But don’t worry. McCain says, he will “talk” to each state and “try” to have them cover some people with preexisting conditions. Well…That makes me feel a lot better…NOT. This is nothing more than straight-talking double-talk. What he should be saying is…If you thought things were bad with health care now, just wait till I am in office. I think someone needs to point out to the McCain campaign, that calling something “straight-talk” doesn’t actually make it straight-talk. Although, in his defense, he is just doing exactly what the Bush administration has become an expert in. Giving something a “feel good” name, that doesn’t reflect the truth in any way. Let me give you some examples…

 

 Support The Troops

Foreclosure Prevention Bill

No Child Left Behind

Just to name a few.
Bottom line. …Things aren’t always as they seem…Especially when it come to straight-talk.This is from The New York Times…

As Senator John McCain spends this week talking about health care and health insurance coverage, the Service Employees International Union has begun broadcasting an ad against his plans in Ohio and Washington, D.C.

The S.E.I.U.’s ad buy coincides with a new bus road tour it began this week, starting in Cleveland, to promote and push for better health insurance coverage.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Attack Mississippi!

h/t Pine Belt Progressive

Attack Iraq!

Firms Leaving China… but Aren’t Coming Home

Rising costs force some U.S. manufacturing firms to leave China, survey finds.

AFP reported yesterday that “China is losing some of its attractiveness to foreign investors as rising costs are forcing some U.S. manufacturing firms to leave the country,” according to the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham). “More than two-thirds of AmCham’s member companies surveyed in an annual white paper agreed that China was losing some of its competitive advantage in global markets.” Among factors are “price pressures from competition and major customers, rising salaries and wages, changes in raw material prices, tax expenses and real estate cost inflation,” according to the study. “‘For manufacturers, the seemingly endless supply of low-cost unskilled labor may be approaching its limits,” according to Norwell Coquillard, chairman of AmCham in Shanghai.” Coquillard also noted, “The competitive labor market poses difficulties for export-oriented manufacturers, especially in low-margin sectors such as toys, garments and shoes,” and said that now “they are looking to India, Vietnam, and other places.” But, despite the survey data, “companies still see China as a strategically important manufacturing base because of its domestic market potential.”

B’Man: One may read that and think that “our chickens may come home to roost”, in that, rednecks may think that their manufacturing jobs making that little widget or that furniture or auto part or whatever will eventually come back.

They won’t. Wake up and smell the coffee.

When the Chinese become too expensive or kill enough of our children or pets, we will simply go to the next lower waged slave place in the world.

These assholes who own these companies care nothing for you, if you happen to eat into their profits, even slightly. They will dump you after dumping your health insurance, retirement, then wages… next is your job.

Big Military and America’s Fleecing

Experts blame changing requirements, unrealistic estimates for Pentagon project issues.

In a front-page story, the New York Times (4/25, A1, Taubman) reported that a Lockheed Martin combat ship program for the Navy has been “temporarily suspended” for soaring costs, among other issues. The program’s tribulations illustrate “what military experts say are profound shortcomings in the Pentagon’s acquisitions system.” The Times noted that “being over budget and behind schedule have become the norm: a recent Government Accountability Office audit found that 95 projects — warships, helicopters and satellites — were delayed 21 months on average and cost 26 percent more than initially projected, a bill of $295 billion.” For that experts blame “a dynamic of mutually re-enforcing deficiencies: ever-changing Pentagon design requirements; unrealistic cost estimates and production schedules abetted by companies eager to win contracts, and a fondness for commercial technologies that often, as with the ferry concept, prove unsuitable for specialized military projects.”
        Lack of competition hurts defense industry, consultants argue. In an opinion column in the Washington Post (4/28, A15), Dov S. Zakheim and Ronald T. Kadish, both vice presidents of Booz Allen Hamilton, write that a recent report from the Government Accountability Office “lays bare a festering problem in our nation’s military procurement system: Competition barely exists in the defense industry and is growing weaker by the day.” Zakheim and Kadish note that, “[i]n the 1980s, 20 or more prime contractors competed for most defense contracts.” Now, “the Pentagon relies primarily on six main contractors,” and uses “a system that largely forgoes competition…and replaces it with a kind of ‘design bureau’ competition, similar to what the Soviet Union used.” The two conclude that, if the U.S. cannot foster “a larger, more diversified base of prime contractors and suppliers,” it may eventually be forced “to nationalize the military industrial base or to ‘outsource’ production of our weapons systems, with excessive portions of that work going overseas.”

B’Man:

OMG, you don’t think they would try to privatize and profitize every aspect of everything this country does? Especially militarily? You mean like what caused the fall of the Roman Empire? And try to force that work down to their very favorites cronies? While the rest of America dries up and dies on the vine?

We Spent The Fourth of July in Bed

h/t to Manila Ryce:

Suheir Hammad

 ”We Spent The 4th Of July In Bed”

from episode 1, season 3 of Def Poetry Jam

Barack Obama: Shitty Bowler

Lord of the Rings

He can keep the ring…

Big Meds and Big Insurance Spend $17 MILLION a Day to Influence Congress

B’Man: When the corrupt Congresspeople get their biggest contributions from Big Health (to a tune of $17,000,000/Day), you should not expect any changes to our healthcare fiasco we are dealing with.

$17 Million a Day to Influence Congress

Health interests dole out the dough to get their way

By Trudy Lieberman
Wed 16 Apr 2008 01:22 PM

On Bill Moyers Journal Friday night, David Beckmann, who heads the hunger advocacy group Bread for the World, recalled his visit with Senate Majority leader Harry Reid. Reid told Beckmann, “Look, I’ve been here thirty-five years. I think the two best organized interests in the United States are the insurance companies and the commodity groups,” meaning the people who produce corn, soybeans, etc. Reid said the obvious—that these special interests have very powerful friends on both sides of the aisle and it would be difficult to make changes in the commodity system that Beckmann was hoping for. Reid might well have added that it is also going to be really hard to change the American way of health care, a fact of life that the press is yet to truly illuminate.

A glance at what health insurers spent in the past year to get their way with lawmakers—mostly on one key issue—shows why. That issue may not be as sexy as the latest candidate gaffe, but it’s far more important. It is the question of continuing overpayments to insurance companies for their role in private Medicare Advantage plans.

A quick refresher: Medicare recipients can get their benefits from either traditional Medicare or from private Medicare Advantage plans, which in turn are paid by the government to provide the benefits. Last year the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac), a neutral outfit that advises Congress, said that Medicare was paying sellers of these plans on average 12 percent more than it cost to provide the same benefits under traditional Medicare; it paid sellers of a special type of plan called private-fee-for-service plans 19 percent more. So a middleman—the insurance company—is getting a large cut. And for what, really? This year MedPac says the overpayments are 13 percent and 17 percent. And what is worse: the commission says these overpayments contribute to Medicare’s worsening long-term financial problem.

The insurance companies, of course, think the system is just fine, and they spent heavily to keep the status quo. Health Plan Week, an insurance industry trade pub, took a hard look, revealing that overall health insurance payments to lobbyists soared last year and are likely to grow again in the next couple of years as health reform becomes the biggest issue. A large percentage of that money, the magazine found, was focused on the Medicare Advantage issue, which was front and center last year. Analyzing disclosure forms from the Senate’s public records office, Health Plan Week found that fifteen health plans paid lobbyists more than $22 million in 2007, up from $18 million in 2006, a hefty chunk of change by any measure. WellCare Health Plans, a big seller of Medicare Advantage products that has gotten in trouble with regulators for its questionable sales practices, quadrupled its spending to $320,000 and paid half of that amount to the Washington law firm to plead its case on Medicare issues. Health Net and Tufts Health Plan more than doubled their spending, while insurance biggies like CIGNA and UnitedHealth Group substantially increased their lobbying budgets. Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans spent nearly $10 million.

The Health Plan Week story is instructive. It shows what money can buy. Given the millions that insurers spent, it’s hardly surprising that attempts last year to get rid of the overpayments failed. Meanwhile, predictions of even greater spending this year and next should prompt journalists to closely watch the Medicare Advantage story.

A press release just issued by the Center for Responsive Politics further reinforces the money and health care story. Its message: Special interests spent $17 million for every day Congress was in session, and the drug industry spent most of all, paying lobbyists 25 percent more than they did last year. Did Harry Reid forget to mention them? Drug companies spent some $227 million on lobbying activities. The insurance industry was right behind with $138 million, and not far down was the hospital and nursing home industry, which spent some $91 million. When the Center pulled apart spending by organization, Pharma, the American Medical Association, and the American Hospital Association ranked three, four, and five on its list of top spenders. It’s too bad that the Center’s latest numbers haven’t gotten more press. For they, too show, the rocky path ahead for health reform.

It’s easy for reporters and editors to dismiss yet another press release about gobs of money thrown at politicians and lobbyists. We’ve seen that before, they say; what else is new? And it’s easy to cop out and blame readers for stumbling over the big numbers anyway. But the big numbers tell a big story. It’s crucial to remind the public of the intersection of money, lobbyists, Congress, and the presidential candidates. “It’s a constitutional right to petition your government, but the average citizen is not doing this petitioning,” says Massie Ritsch, communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics. “The average person’s lobbyist is the elected official sent to Washington.” But, he adds, “Those officials are listening to the outsiders who are doing the petitioning.” The Constitution may guarantee lobbying, but it doesn’t say Congress has to listen to big money. The press needs to shine a light on just who is listening to whom.

B’Man: Oh, but then the media would have to stop its complicity in ravaging of Americans. Good luck with that.

There is but one clear answer and that is to cut the head off the middle man that serves no real purpose and is ONLY set up to make profits off the backs of Americans… the Insurance Companies. $.31 of every dollar spent on health related expenses is for the insurance companies’ operating expenditures (which are far higher than Medicare/Medicaid’s costs), profits and huge bonuses.

We need, no REQUIRE, a single payer, NOT-FOR-PROFIT healthcare system… just like most of the 36 better healthcare systems above us.

America #37!

 

McCain: PTSD or Pumphead?

Invasion of the Pumpheads!

by Dave Lindorff     Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

 

Is America at the mercy of an invasion of the pumpheads?

The bizarre behavior of Bill Clinton during this campaign season, which has seen this once smooth-talking and politically uber-sophisticated campaigner repeatedly stick a foot in his mouth and undermine his wife’s struggling campaign, raises the issue of whether he is suffering from postperfusion syndrome—a now recognized cognitive impairment common in patients who have undergone heart bypass surgery.

Referred to in hospital jargon as “pumphead syndrome,” the condition, thought to be caused by debris and bubbles that are created and released into the bloodstream by artificial pumps used to circulate blood while hearts are being operated on—material that can block blood flow in smaller vessels in the brain, causing neurological damage–this recognized condition has been demonstrated in some studies to lead to significant cognitive impairment that can show up in as many as 42 percent of heart surgery patients even as long as five years after surgery.

At least in Clinton’s case, if he is a “pumphead,” the only damage he can do is to his wife’s campaign. He is no longer president or commander in chief. (Well, let me take that back. If she were elected, he could create havoc as First Spouse and chief pillow talker, but let’s not even go there!)

But what about Cheney, a man who has had five, count ‘em, five heart surgeries, each of which offered a 42% chance of causing permanent cognitive impairment? No wonder there are reports that this bizarre, eternally snarling, heavy drinking friend shooter is said to hum to himself loudly and tunelessly in the stall of the White House men’s room!

If we consider the likelihood that the man widely seen as the power in this administration is a pumphead, and that Bush himself, who spent a long time as a drunk and a cokehead (talk about the potential for, not to mention the clear evidence of mental impairment!), we are left with the almost inevitable conclusion that we have been led for the past two terms by a pair brain-damaged men—and that’s not even counting the members of the cabinet and National Security Council, the medical histories of whom we know nothing. Given the advanced age of most of the team, it’s a fair bet that a number of them have had heart surgery too.

Call it “Invasion of the Pumpheads!”

Certainly not everyone who undergoes heart surgery and gets put temporarily on a pump ends up mentally deficient, but the prevalence of the problem sounds to me like a pretty good reason to demand full medical disclosure from all candidates for higher office, and not just for president and vice president, but for cabinet posts too—and judgeships.

For starters, Republican presidential presumptive nominee John McCain, 71 and a known cancer survivor, has not released his medical records. That suspicious failure of candor in a man who has already run for president once, should tell us something right away. His behavior places him squarely in the pumphead suspicion category, especially given that the guy repeatedly fails to recognize the difference between Sunnis and Shias in Iraq, and thinks that the Iranians—nearly all Shia—are backing Al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group that is so anti-Iran that they are publicly calling on the US to attack that country! Even if he hasn’t had heart surgery, if he were elected and took office at age 72, he’d be the oldest president in history, and his prognosis for making it through one, much less two terms in one of the world’s most stressful jobs without having a heart attack seem slim.

Not that seemingly intelligent presidents haven’t been disastrous or haven’t made terrible decisions (think Nixon, Kennedy, Hoover and Wilson). But we’ve just endured two terms of a president with some kind of mental impairment with catastrophic results, and we had one in the 1980s with Alzheimer-afflicted Ronald Reagan, which set the nation on its course to bankruptcy. We certainly don’t need yet a third president of limited mental ability. It’s almost like we’re institutionalizing the concept.
____________________
DAVE LINDORFF is an investigative journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition. His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

B’Man’s Blog Finally Recognized For What It Is

My Award

I accept this award with dignity and honor.

As The Military Industrial Complex Profits Soar… REAL Jobs Are Lost

Layoffs hit hard across Southeast Tennessee, North Georgia

By: Cliff Hightower

…Companies across Southeast Tennessee and North Georgia like Huber Engineered Woods; Whirlpool in Cleveland, Tenn.; and Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, Ga., have laid off hundreds of workers in the last three months, federal records show.

Even federal statistics might not tell the whole story because industries or businesses that employ 50 people or fewer are not mandated to report layoffs, officials said.

“You can go into some of the small businesses in Dalton and see that their jobs are reduced,” said Kathy Williams, employer marketing representative for the Georgia Department of Labor in Dalton, Ga. “People are trying to do with the minimal.”

Most of those layoffs have occurred in industries that deal with the housing market, records show. Slumping home construction has lessened demand for wallboard, carpet, appliances and other products, experts said.

Other losses came in the textile industry, where jobs have been moving overseas for years to take advantage of lower labor costs.

UNEMPLOYMENT RISING

Unemployment rates have risen over the last year and in some counties have almost doubled from the previous year, records show.

The unemployment rate for Catoosa, Dade and Walker counties rose from 3.5 percent in March 2007 to 6.5 percent in March 2008, said Patrick Todd, labor market analyst for the Tennessee Department of Labor’s Chattanooga Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Chattanooga MSA comprises those Georgia counties plus Hamilton, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Southeast Tennessee.

Unemployment in Whitfield County, Ga., went from 4.3 percent in March 2007 to 6.3 percent this March, federal records show.

March jobless rates jumped in McMinn County, Tenn., to 7.9 percent, up from 5.1 percent the previous year. In Meigs County, Tenn., the rate rose from 6.5 percent to 8.1 percent in the same period.

In Sequatchie County, Tenn., March jobless rates rose from 6.6 percent to 7.8 percent.

“What we’re seeing is a lot of counties are higher than a year ago,” said Larry Green, labor market analyst for the Tennessee Department of Labor. “Everybody is having trouble in manufacturing across the board.”

In McMinn County, Collins & Aikman, a company that sewed automobile upholstery, laid off almost 500 workers last year, records show. Whirlpool laid off 355 employees in Cleveland, Tenn., last month, and Mohawk Industries in Dalton told 66 workers in February they were no longer employed, records show.

Layoffs in smaller counties can be a shock to the entire community, Mr. Green said.

“There’s a lot of counties solely dependent on one or two manufacturers, and if they close, they are in trouble,” he said.

Jack Hammontree, director of the McMinn Economic Development Authority, said county officials are hoping for another employer to take over the former Collins & Aikman plant.

But in tough economic times, that might be hard to achieve, he said.

“It’s always difficult to recruit,” he said. “But it’s more difficult. The companies are thinking less about expanding.”

SEEKING RETRAINING

Some people who lose their jobs go back to school and learn different skills.

Scott Spears, of Trion was among 250 workers laid off from Mount Vernon Mills in Chattooga County, Ga., in January.

Mr. Spears enrolled at Northwestern Technical College in Rock Spring, Ga.

He can draw unemployment while he’s enrolled, and he gets money for school books, gas and food through the federal Workforce Investment Act.

He said he hopes the economy will be better by the time he’s through with his two-year degree in industrial control systems.

“That’s what I’m hoping,” he said.

Susan Doesburg, WIA assistant coordinator at Northwestern, said the most popular programs are nursing, electrical and heating and air conditioning. She said enrollment has increased because of layoffs. School officials said WIA enrollment averages 15 students a quarter, but 60 students enrolled this quarter.

Mrs. Doesburg said those students are using resources at a fast clip, and she’s worried how much help Northwestern can give to victims of future layoffs.

“Due to this increase, WIA funds are now limited,” she said.

Joyce Carrier, dean of the school of technology at Dalton State College, said she expects enrollment to jump in the fall, and perhaps the spring, because of layoffs. Many former employees come hoping the economy will get better once they graduate, she said.

“I think all of us would like to believe that,” Mrs. Carrier said.

B’Man: Look at the bright side. You can always sell shit on EBAY.