Hundreds of people worked their final shifts Friday at a Whirlpool Corp. refrigerator factory in southern Indiana that has been the site of protests over its closure.
The Evansville plant's production line was shutting down after turning out refrigerators for 54 years, meaning the loss of some 600 jobs. About 450 other workers were laid off in March when Whirlpool ended its second production shift.
snip
The company announced last year that it would shut down the factory and move production to Mexico. Whirlpool will still have a presence in the city, with 300 employees at its refrigeration design center.
Months of protests over the closing plans didn't change the decision, which executives of the Benton Harbor, Mich.-based company said was needed to reduce costs and streamline its operations.Some 1,500 people joined AFL-CIO national President Richard Trumka for march outside the factory in February protesting the decision, which some workers attributed to corporate greed.
Out of curiosity, I wonder how many of the 1500 protesters bought one product over the other because of the price?
U.S. companies are holding more cash in the bank than at any point on record, underscoring persistent worries about financial markets and about the sustainability of the economic recovery.
The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that nonfinancial companies had socked away $1.84 trillion in cash and other liquid assets as of the end of March, up 26% from a year earlier and the largest-ever increase in records going back to 1952. Cash made up about 7% of all company assets, including factories and financial investments, the highest level since 1963.
While renewed confidence in corporate-bond markets has allowed big companies to raise a record amount of money, many are still hesitant to spend the cash on hiring or expansion amid doubts about the strength of the recovery. They are also anxious to keep cash on hand in case Europe's debt troubles lead to a new market freeze.
Don't worry Mr./Ms. CEO the Obamunists are here and they'll subside your fears.
They called it Paradise I don't know why Somebody laid the mountains low While the town got high.............
Californians don’t see much evidence that the worst economic contraction since the Great Depression is coming to an end.
Unemployment was 12.4 percent in May, 2.7 percentage points higher than the national rate. Lawmakers gridlocked over how to close a $19 billion budget gap are weighing the termination of the main welfare program for 1.3 million poor families or borrowing more than $9 billion in the bond market. California, tied with Illinois for the lowest credit rating of any state, is diverting a rising portion of tax revenue to service debt, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its August issue.
Far from rebounding, the Golden State, with a $1.8 trillion economy that’s larger than Russia’s, is sinking deeper into its financial funk. And it’s not alone.
Turning the world's most abundant area into a third world economy?
This weekend is a good one for the Gekko's to grab some R&R. We're heading to Milwaukee for Summerfest so my posting might be limited. I'll be back in town Wednesday night.
It also appears to be a good weekend for Midas. Not only will he get to see the 311 show tonight, he'll be in town for Justin Bieber tomorrow night and I believe there's lesbian Coldplay tribute band playing in a park downtown.
In this case, Nancy Lollapelosi is setting up a legal defense fund ......................
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is asking supporters for contributions to help prevent the "subpoenas and investigations" that would result from a GOP majority.
In a fundraising letter for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Pelosi says if Republicans take back the House, they'll initiate "endless investigations against President Obama" and "bring back the days of Ken Starr and the politics of personal destruction."
"Remember a Republican-controlled Congress that devoted more time to subpoenas and investigations than to solving our country's problems?" Pelosi asks. "There is far too much at stake for our country now to allow it to happen again."
I have this theory that you can tell the difficulty of any given profession by the number of legacies residing in the profession. My theory being that for some professions it's all about contacts, access to coaching and training and exposure.
For instance, take sports broadcasting. It is completely littered with Buck's, Caray's, Albert's, Brennaman's, etc. In my mind, it's not about talent for these guys but having access to the trade that gets them the job; being able to be in the booth with old dad, doing rehearsal tapes. being introduced to the players in the profession, etc........
I've always proclaimed this theory as it relates to sports. Baseball has to be the easiest of all the sports by just looking at the number of Boone's, Griffey's, Bell's, Alou's, Matthew's etc in the sport.
Or take auto racing where the name Andretti or Petty gets you a team as a five year old.
But Gordon, maybe it has more to do with talent inherited by the kids from the parents.
Well, if that were true, there would be at least 24 guys in the NBA with the name of Kemp since Shawn Kemp single handedly passed on his talents to hundreds of baby momma's across the country.
Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Moses Malone all have kids who probably wouldn't have even warranted D-1 scholarships if it weren't for their names, yet none of them have an impact on the NBA.
Using my theory, could there possibly be a profession that requires less talent than being a politician?
Pelosi is Italian-American and was born Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro in Baltimore, Maryland, the youngest of six children of Anunciata M. ("Nancy") and Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., who was a Democratic party U.S. Congressman from Maryland and a Mayor of Baltimore.[3] Pelosi's brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, also a Democrat, was mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971, when he declined to run for a second term.
What about the Kennedy's? Let's face it. Could any of them make a dollar in a fully functioning, legal, American business?
How about this list political legacies......
Jesse Jackson Jr? The Bush's? Robin Carnahan? Kwame Kilpatrick? Monica and John Conyers? Hillary Clinton? Evan Bayh?
A real talent pool........... for a zombie movie.
The American political landscape is totally littered with losers who wouldn't be anything if not for Mommy, Daddy, or Hubby clearing the way for them in the profession of politics.
So I think it's kind of funny that the pride of Harry Reid's loins, Rory won't use his last name in his latest political ad...............
Boy, he sure picked up his dad's weasel like good looks now didn't he?
I'll never proclaim to be the smartest guy in a room. But here's one thing I can be absolutely certain of. I will be smarter than the smartest liberal in the room.
Why?
Because I grasp this fundamental concept regarding government. No matter how benevolent you claim to be, there just isn't enough money to cover everyone for everything.
If you need a case study let's look at the world's most benevolent country, France...................
French labour unions staged a day of strikes and street rallies on Thursday to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age beyond 60 years. Opinion polls show most voters oppose the reform and by midday tens of thousands of marchers had gathered in several cities, but there were mixed reports about participation in strike action. Teaching unions announced that 40 percent of primary and secondary school teachers had gone on strike, whereas the education ministry put the figure at just over 12 percent. Public transport was only mildly disrupted nationwide, with three quarters of regional trains and all high-speed TGV services running as normal and only very minor delays for some Paris commuters. Nevertheless, a strike by air traffic controllers in support of the protest saw 30 percent of flights from Paris Orly airport cancelled and 10 percent from Charles de Gaulle, the environment ministry said. "What happens today will be fairly decisive for how things develop," said Bernard Thibault, leader of the CGT, the largest of the broad coalition of trade unions organising the national protest.
Sounds an awful lot like California and Michigan.......
Congress is working on financial reform. At first, I thought this would be every bit as horrible as the health care bill until I read this from Sen. Chris Dodd.............
"No one will know until this is actually in place how it works. But we believe we've done something that has been needed for a long time. It took a crisis to bring us to the point where we could actually get this job done."
Did he really say that? Seriously, this is a quote from The Onion or an SNL skit right?
Police arrested a man Wednesday evening accused of being naked at the library with a bag full of stolen cheese.
An off-duty police officer working security at the downtown branch of the Cincinnati Public Library said he found 52-year-old Darrell Bess washing himself in the nude about 5:30 p.m. in the men's restroom.
When officers searched his bag, they said they found a knife, a razor, two stolen DVDs and 4 pounds of parmesan cheese stolen from a Findlay Market store.
C'mon if you are going to hit a homeless shelter for some spaghetti you need the cheese man.
In any event, did Darrell here vote for The One of The Maverick in the last presidential election?
Bonus question. How many times did the census bureau count this guy?
They called it Paradise The place to be They watched the hazy sun Sinking in the sea............
You know you live in Paradise when you can take your welfare card to your local casino and get free money out to place a wad on black.......................
California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.
The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.
State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.
But hey, shouldn't poor people be allowed to throw a few dimes into a slot machine? Isn't it a little discriminatory to think that only rich people should be allowed to blow their money on a craps table?
Subsidizing Native Americans by letting poor people lose their money in Indian casinos?
From the city of Oakland where an 8.0 earthquake would probably do $20 billion in improvements.............
Nineteen-year-old Rachael Green held her high school diploma in her hands June 15. One week later she died after being shot during a candlelight vigil for a classmate who was killed just days before.
Gunmen opened fire on the group gathered in West Oakland at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, killing Green and wounding five people.
The shooting happened in a parking lot of the Acorn apartment complex in the 1100 block of Eighth Street, about a half-block from where the Oakland police union held a news conference Monday. The union had denounced city plans to lay off police officers, saying it would make the city more dangerous.
Police said Green was an Oakland resident. Wounded in the attack were a
14-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man. All live in Oakland except the 16-year-old, who police said lived in Tracy. Their names were not released.
A couple of weeks ago, I told Mrs. Gekko that Al and Tipper Gore's divorce was the result of a sex scandal.
Without hesitation, Mrs. Gekko said "Let me guess....... he's gay".
Which actually was the allegation in one of the news rags at the time.
None the less, I was surprised that an allegation came out that he may not be gay and it appears that the rags scooped the main stream media, who once again feels the need to hide scandal among the faithful............
The Portland Police Bureau has today released a statement regarding allegations of sexual assault by former Vice President Al Gore while in Portland. Vice President Gore has also been in the news recently for the unexpected divorce from his wife of 40 years, Tipper Gore.
Below is the full text of the PPB press release:
A national tabloid magazine has published a story discussing allegations made by a Portland woman against former Vice President Al Gore. The Portland Police Bureau does not generally disclose information regarding sex crimes, as they are deemed confidential. However, because of the high-profile nature of this case and the fact that the woman involved provided reports to a media outlet, we will provide the following information:
In December 2006, a local attorney contacted the Portland Police Bureau and said he had a client that wanted to report an unwanted sexual contact by Mr. Gore. This allegation stemmed from an incident on October 24, 2006, when the woman involved, a Licensed Massage Therapist, was called to a local hotel to provide a massage to Mr. Gore.
C'mon, I'm sure he just assume this masseuse was one of those happy ending kind of gals. He probably got the referral from The Billary.
Now just out of curiosity,I wonder how many of the traditional news outlets who had no problems detailing unsubstantiated charges against, Kobe Bryant, the Duke Lacrosse team, etc. will be reporting on one of the brethren.
It appears that the Home Buyer Credit initiated by this administration has been a rousing success. Especially, for people who principally reside in a prison............
Despite efforts by the IRS to combat scams, thousands of individuals — including nearly 1,300 prison inmates — have defrauded the government of millions of dollars in home buyer credits, Treasury's inspector general reported Wednesday.
The home buyer credit provided a federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers for tax year 2008, the subject of the report. The credit, created to revive the housing market, was later extended to repeat home buyers. The latest credit expired with sale contracts signed as of April 30.
In response to earlier reports of widespread fraud, the IRS tightened reporting requirements for taxpayers who claimed the credit. But additional controls are needed, the inspector general said. Among the report's findings:
•1,295 prisoners, including 241 serving life sentences, received $9.1 million in credits, even though they were incarcerated at the time they reported that they purchased their home. These prisoners didn't file joint returns, so their claims could not have been the result of purchases made with or by their spouses, the report said.
•2,555 taxpayers received $17.6 million in credits for homes purchased before the dates allowed by law.
•10,282 taxpayers received credits for homes that were also used by other taxpayers to claim the credit. In one case, 67 taxpayers used the same home to claim the credit.
"This is very troubling," J. Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, said. "Congress created and modified the home buyer credit to stimulate the economy and help taxpayers achieve the American dream, not to line the pockets of wrongdoers."
I'm not a conspiracy nut but you have to wonder if BP and The White House are working together to wipe out the gulf states............
The federal government is shutting down the dredging that was being done to create protective sand berms in the Gulf of Mexico.
The berms are meant to protect the Louisiana coastline from oil. But the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department has concerns about where the dredging is being done.
Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser, who was one of the most vocal advocates of the dredging plan, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama, pleading for the work to continue.
Nungesser said the government has asked crews to move the dredging site two more miles farther off the coastline.
"Once again, our government resource agencies, which are intended to protect us, are now leaving us vulnerable to the destruction of our coastline and marshes by the impending oil," Nungesser wrote to Obama. "Furthermore, with the threat of hurricanes or tropical storms, we are being put at an increased risk for devastation to our area from the intrusion of oil.
It's now day 60 something and we're still awaiting the Obamunists to waive the Jones Act.
One of the constitutional duties of Congress is to pass a budget every year. But given that the democrats are the party of ignoring the Constitution, I guess we should expect this.............
The primary responsibility of Congress under the Constitution is to pass a budget for the federal government. The Democrats have a 77-seat majority in the House and an 18-seat majority in the Senate, where filibusters won’t apply anyway on budgetary matters. Barack Obama’s presidency gives them a clear path to passing whatever budget Democrats desire for FY2011. And so, obviously, all of this has proven too much of a hurdle for Democrats to overcome, as Steny Hoyer admitted today:
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer made official Tuesday morning what most insiders have known for months: Congress won’t do a budget this year.
Instead, Democrats are pushing an alternative route that falls well short of the more rigorous annual budget resolution — a short-term resolution that will call for discretionary spending lower than in President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget. But he said Congress wouldn’t take longer-term budget action before hearing from Obama’s fiscal commission in December. Republicans have lambasted Democrats for not passing a budget resolution, saying that’s the first time it’s happened since 1976.
John Boehner wasted no time in blasting his counterparts across the aisle for dereliction of their first duty:
Republicans have already seized on the budgetary inaction. Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) sent out a mocking statement that said: “We regret to inform you that the congressional budget for fiscal year 2011 has been canceled due to Washington Democrats’ out-of-control spending spree.”
When you read this, you'll understand why our public skools are suck a mess............
Keep in mind.......... this article is about the freakin' PRESIDENT OF THE DETROIT PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD!
Mathis has succeeded over the years by never admitting defeat when he failed. Unable to meet academic requirements, he found ways around them.
After graduating from Southeastern High School with a D-plus average, he got into Wayne State University in a program for the academically unqualified. When he failed to pass an English language writing exam required for graduation, he sued, claiming the exam discriminated against African-Americans. When the exam was dropped, a decade later, he duly received his bachelor of science degree.
...some DPS board members continued to defend him. Reverend David Murray, who is 58, described the 56-year-old Mathis as "a young man," who is still learning basic rules of deportment.
"Like I say, it's not that uncommon for people to behave in that fashion," he said Monday, "especially if the person is coming on to them. In most workplaces, they tell you you shouldn't have any social carrying on in the workplace."
R U serious?
Hiring illiterate, masturbating, derelicts to run your school board?
Wow, it looks like there's a lot of states heading for bankruptcy. Is it a coincidence that nearly all of them are hard core "Blue States"?
I don't think so............
Many say that the situation in Greece is a harbinger of what is coming to the United States. They are right. But first it will come to states like New York, California and Michigan, which are stretched way beyond their means and deeply in debt.
Until now, the problems in these states have been papered over by federal aid. Essentially, Washington has relieved these states (and the local governments they fund) of their constitutional obligations to balance their budgets by giving them welfare checks in the nick of time. Barack Obama now seeks to pass $50 billion in additional welfare to the states.
Look, I've really tried to give the World Cup a shot. I've watched more soccer in the past two weeks than I have an entire lifetime. Even the vuvuzelas are strating to grow on me.
None the less, I get why Euro's and liberals love the sport. You see, no matter how horrible you are, it's always close. It's the sport world's equivalent of distributing the wealth.
I could put together a group of 12 homeless dudes from Golden Gate Park and promise that if they keep a game against Brazil close I'll buy each of them a bottle of Malt Liquor.
The outcome of the game will probably be 2-0, maybe 3-0 when a Brazilian fan offers my goal keeper whiskey.
I love listening to all the post game comments where the analysts use all these cliches to describe what amounts to a lack of action; it's oh so liberal. See soccer is less substance and more style. Take any popular American sport and you can judge the performance in hard, objective statistics; none of this nuanced "they aggressively attacked the goal" bs.
Now keep in mind, that I'm a guy who spent 12 years in track and field, a sport immensely popular in Europe but not in the US. I can appreciate the sport but I can understand how your average American can't relate.
So if you are one of those liberals dying to comment about how I'm some Neanderthal because I think soccer sucks, remember that wine sipping, Obama like, arrogant, elitism says more about you than me.
But don't take my word for it.................
The world's most popular sport? Puh-leeze. This is like saying that dirt is more popular than gold simply because there is more of it. Last time I checked, soccer was very popular where starvation, archery, and badminton were the alternative activities. Where soccer has to compete with the NFL, college football, and basketball -- not to mention WWE, the X Games, cheerleading contests, and cage-fighting -- not so much.
And no, I am not some redneck soccer newbie who has never been exposed to the sport. Actually, I attended the prep school that brought the sport to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina -- one of the first soccer hotspots in the country. We are talking multiple decades ago. And frankly, I rather enjoyed playing it in one of the southeast's first little league soccer organizations and in high school PE class.
But watching it? Oh my God. The only thing more predictable than Barack Obama blaming George W. Bush and BP is that when you flip over to World Cup coverage, the score will be 0-0. I don't care who is playing or where you are in the game...er, match. It will be 0-0. And for those who think watching the grass grow is more exciting, I think these matches are so long they do have to mow the pitch at halftime. (Hey -- I know they call it a pitch, not a field. Told you I was not a redneck newbie.)
Threaten nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East? No problem.
Drop a couple of gabbillion barrels of oil in the gulf? Naaaa.
Be critical of The Messiah. You better be wearing a mouth piece and head gear............
Obama has been in office roughly a year and a half. That’s long enough to get a handle on what motivates our president. He’s pretty binary. When he’s not partying with rock stars, he’s either apathetic or angry. Here, in no particular order, is a little list of Obama’s responses to both world situations and domestic policy initiatives that have occurred so far during his administration:
Health care bill: Apathetic. (Yeah, it passed and, yeah, he made the talk show circuits, but he was a follower, not a leader on this one. The momentum came from the Democratic Congress.)
The Green Revolution in Iran: Apathetic. (Obama had the opportunity to topple the Iranian government using the power of the Iranian people. Instead, after a prolonged silence, he damned the Iranian people with faint, frightened praise.)
The Gulf Oil Spill: Apathetic. (Notwithstanding his promise to find “some ass to kick” — a phrase that, with repetition, takes on weirdly homoerotic connotations, or is that just me? — Obama has done little. Alternatively, what little he’s done, has been obstructive or unconstitutional, without actually affecting that endless oil flow.)
The Iranian Nuclear Bomb: Apathetic. (Although that’s not quite true: when he’s not being frighteningly quiescent, he’s been working to water down sanctions against them. That goes beyond apathetic and veers into self-destructive, with America, the Middle East and Europe as the “self.”)
Actually, it'll probably be less of an ass kicking; more of a scratching your eyes out.
When I was leaving college, I liked to kid that when employers ask my grade point average I would just tell them it's 3.
"Three point what?"
"Just three".
See if you round 2.7 it rounds to three.
Well, I should have gone to Loyola where I'd actually have a legitimate underachieving 3.0.
There when your school's students underachieve, they just change the grade point averages.............
One day next month every student at Loyola Law School Los Angeles will awake to a higher grade point average.
But it’s not because they are all working harder.
The school is retroactively inflating its grades, tacking on 0.333 to every grade recorded in the last few years. The goal is to make its students look more attractive in a competitive job market.
In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month. Some recruiters at law firms keep track of these changes and consider them when interviewing, and some do not.
Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate — and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings. Once able to practically guarantee gainful employment to thousands of students every year, the schools are now fielding complaints from more and more unemployed graduates, frequently drowning in student debt.
It's a lot like soccer, where you can't distinguish the good teams from the collection of homeless dudes.
"The world knows BP is a disaster, a monster of a disaster. Every time a TV news station shows oil gushing from a broken pipe -- one mile below the ocean’s surface -- the audience feels sick. Scenes of oil-soaked pelicans struggling for life angers and saddens us. The financial losses endured by small businesses and fishermen cannot be imagined, let alone conveyed by the media interviews alone. BP is a disaster whose scope is beyond comprehension.
I was in England this month when President Barack Obama blamed and criticized BP for this tragedy. His criticism sparked the anger of the English. Politicians wanted him to tone it down, to be more careful in his choice of words. English Prime Minister David Cameron told Obama “not to go after BP for the sake of it.” Richard Branson said he was “kicking a company when it was on their knees.” Their concern was not for the environment or those suffering the ravages of this disaster. Their concern was for the pensioners who are counting on BP for a secure retirement
On June 17, the UK’s Daily Mail ran a headline screaming, “Bullied Into a £13 Cave-In." Brits are angry with Obama for pressuring BP to suspend dividend payments and set aside $20 billion for the clean up. Obama’s strong-arm position has affected British pensioners, who own 40% of BP, as well as American pension funds that own 39%. In other words, the economic damage of BP goes far beyond the Gulf. The damage is spreading to pensions, pensioners, and portfolios all around the world."
A German student created a major traffic jam in Bavaria after making a rude gesture at a group of Hell's Angels motorcycle gang members, hurling a puppy at them and then escaping on a stolen bulldozer.
From the war zone known as Philadelphia............
Rick Gandy stood calmly watching his 7-year-old daughter swing on a swing-set near Widener University Sunday afternoon, occasionally giving her a gentle push when she needed momentum.
Just one day prior, Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. gave his city a more forceful shove, declaring a state of emergency and enacting a lockdown in five city areas designated as being hot spots for crime.
The city made it through the first night of the lockdown without a major incident Saturday night, the first of at least five mandatory nights in which residents are banned from public streets and areas between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The lockdown could last an additional 30 days if city council opts to honor the mayor’s request to do so when it meets Wednesday.
Republican Butler has a supporter in Gandy, a member of the Chester City GOP Committee.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Gandy said. “Little kids can’t come out and play and have a good time. We have guys running around and shooting and not knowing where they’re shooting at.”
A lifelong Chester resident, Gandy said he’s distressed about the recent surge in violence, which resulted in five homicides this month and seven since May 1. “It brings tears to my eyes,” he said. “Growing up, it was never this way.”
From the Windy city of Chicago, Afghanistan...........
Eight people were killed and at least 44 others were shot across the city Friday night into early Monday, including a baby girl who suffered a graze wound to the neck when gunfire erupted at a Near West Side barbecue.
Those killed included a 28-year-old man found shot in the chest about 3 a.m. Monday in the 7500 block of South Halsted Street near a South Side church, according to Gresham District police. A passing motorist found the man, identified as Credale Woulard, of 7711 S. Ada St., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. He was dressed in women's clothing and was found lying dead on the sidewalk.
In the South Side Englewood neighborhood, 44-year-old Darryl Dunn was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in the 7200 block of South Marshfield Avenue at 2:02 a.m. Monday, authorities said.
Normally, you'd think deaths of this nature would be in a downtown Kabul market place; except there's no IED's involved.
