The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that April industrial production fell, the second negative reading in the past three months. Specifically, February and April fell by 0.7%, and March showed an increase of 0.2%.

In May 2001, that same report showed that production fell for the seventh consecutive month.

Seasonally adjusted data from the Fed indicates that industrial production during those seven months (October 2000 through April 2001) fell 2.6%.

During the past seven months (October 2007 through April 2008), industrial production has fallen 1.7%.

Guess which set of circumstances generated more talk of recession?

Covering the the 2001 report, the New York Times, appearing ever mindful that a Republican had occupied the White House less than four months, kept talk of a recession to a bare minimum:

Production At Factories Decreases For 7th Month

Industrial production fell in April for a seventh consecutive month, the longest string of declines since 1982.

Production at factories, mines and utilities declined 0.3 percent last month, after falling 0.1 percent in March, the Federal Reserve said. Manufacturing of business equipment, appliances and metals all dropped in April.

….. The string of declines in industrial production is the longest since March-December 1982. The economy was in recession from July 1981 to November 1982, according to statistics from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Note that the Times made no attempt to claim that the country was currently in a recession.

The Associated Press’ Martin Crutsinger technically didn’t do that either, but he got as close as he possibly could while raising R-word specter and playing clever word games (bolds are mine):

Industrial output falls, second time in 3 months

Industrial output plunged in April as factories making everything from autos to heavy machinery felt the adverse effects of the weak economy. Analysts held out hope that production will revive in the second half of the year, helped by the government’s economic stimulus checks.

Industrial production dropped 0.7 percent last month, the Federal Reserve reported Thursday, more than double the decline that economists had expected.

….. Brian Bethune, an economist at Global Insight, said production will shrink again this quarter, marking the third negative quarter, the longest stretch of weakness in manufacturing since the last recession in 2001.

Bethune predicted a mild rebound for manufacturers starting this summer when consumers start spending 130 million economic stimulus checks that are now being mailed out.

“That extra cash is expected to roll gradually into consumer spending by June,” he said, calling the timing “indeed fortuitous.” Many analysts believe the $168 billion stimulus program Congress passed in February will not keep the country from toppling into a recession but will make the downturn shorter and milder than it otherwise would have been

….. The weak economy has triggered four straight months of job losses, often a sign that a recession has started. However, the April drop was just one-fourth the size of job losses in March, giving hope that the current economic slowdown may not be as severe as the past two recessions.

Clever Crutsinger is treating “recession,” “downturn,” and “current economic slowdown” (emphasis “current”) as synonyms. This would appear to be his lame attempt to get his “we’re in a recession” digs in while claiming plausible deniability.

There is nowhere near the level of evidence available to credibly claim that a recession is underway. Economic growth has been positive if anemic, the unemployment rate declined in April, and the weighted average of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing and non-manufacturing indices is decidedly positive.

Yet Crutsinger, as noted last week, continues to “cling to recession.”

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Once more, with feeling, as he rides off into the sunset:

Story here.

Hannity.com has linked to the first of my three posts on the Trumpet Newsmagazine covers and content (see box with rotating items on the left side at Sean Hannity’s site; the other two BizzyBlog posts are here and here):

Trumpet is the mostly-monthly magazine published by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s 20-year pastor and “sounding board” Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) on Chicago’s South Side.

Stanley Kurtz of the Weekly Standard is the person who did the original detailed work to reveal the radical, controversial nature of what has been in Trumpet since it transitioned from being an in-house organ of the TUCC to a magazine available to the general public. The covers of the pre-transition Trumpets indicate that the radicalism was present well before the move to public availability.

Barack Obama has been on Trumpet’s cover at least three times, once by himself (first and third images are clickable, and will open in a separate window):

Louis Farrakhan has also been on the cover at least three times, twice by himself (all graphics are clickable; each will open in a separate window), and once in a montage that included Wright and Obama:

Jesse Jackson and Al “Close This City” Sharpton have also appeared (all graphics are clickable; each will open in a separate window):

Kurtz’s core and inescapable conclusion (at very end):

There can be no mistaking it. What did Barack Obama know and when did he know it? Everything. Always.

The three previous detailed posts are these:
- May 14 — Jeremiah Wright’s Trumpet Newsmagazine: Cover Pic ‘Highlights’ (Farrakhan, Sharpton, Jackson, Others)
- May 14 — As Media Ogles, Stanley Kurtz Trumpets the Obviously Deep Obama-Wright Connections
- May 12 — Attention Stanley Kurtz Re Obama, Wright, Trumpet: I’ve Got You Covered

It’s here.

I’ll post it at BizzyBlog on Saturday after the blackout expires.

From Western Australia:

May 10, 2008 07:40pm

A MAN who was savaged by a 4m shark just off a popular beach in WA owes his life to a local hero who swam to his rescue and helped bring him to shore.

The shark tore two chunks from 37-year-old Jason Cull’s left leg, leaving him flailing and yelling for help from passersby at Middleton Beach in Albany at 7.30am.

He was rescued by a woman and received first aid before being taken to Albany Regional Hospital for surgery.

The extent of Mr Cull’s injuries are not known, but St John Ambulance confirmed he had suffered bites to one leg.

Albany Sea Rescue yesterday tracked the shark, which was described as a white pointer with a “belly the size of a 44-gallon drum”.

Authorities closed the beach and sent a spotter plane to monitor the movements of three sharks _ two of 4m and one 5m — sighted in the bay.

Albany locals yesterday said the sharks may have been enticed into the bay by schools of salmon or a pod of dolphins that had been seen in the area earlier.

Joanne Lucas grabbed Mr Cull and dragged him to safety as the shark loitered just 3m away.
“Instinct just kicked in,” Mrs Lucas told The Sunday Times.

“I didn’t even have to think about it, which is amazing really. It all just happened. I didn’t think, I just thought I had to get in there.”

Mrs Lucas, a mother-of-one, said she swam to Mr Cull, but was acutely aware that two other swimmers in the water were at grave risk of being attacked.

“I got to him and he said: ‘Thank God. Thank you so much — a shark has attacked my leg.”

“It thought it was a dolphin to start with, but when he told me it had taken a big chunk (from his leg), I thought `Oh no’.

“I kept thinking that I’ve got to get him in before it turns around and comes after us. I was thinking I have to beat (the shark) in (to shore). …..

Go here for the rest of the story.