Friday, August 26, 2011
Boycotting Comcast.... not much of a sacrifice
After she asked me why, I told her "because I won't support a sleazy company who produces some of the raunchiest hip hop music, the most liberally biased magazines, raunchy TV shows, dominates the local cable TV market with a legal monopoly and the fact that Ted Turner still owns significant stock in the company. Hell, even Sports Illustrated is nothing but a global warming puff piece. But other than that, I'm sure you're a fine company".
My assistant laughed for about an hour but I was dead serious.
So when I read that Comcast is a big Obama supporter, I guess I need to add them to the boycott list............
The media is still showing the love for Obama. Not only does the fawning coverage continue but media executives are putting their money where their collective mouths are, by showering the Obama campaign with money. Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator and the new owner of NBC (and MSNBC) is the company that tops out the list of executives giving money to the Obama Victory Fund. Abby Phillip writes in Politico:
President Obama raised eyebrows this weekend when he visited Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' Martha's Vineyard home on Sunday. Comcast, beyond being a telecommunications giant, is also the parent company of NBC and MSNBC.
It turns out that Comcast employees are also the most generous organizational donors to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
Comcast employees have donated nearly $200,000 to the fund, according to an Open Secrets analysis. They top out a list that includes Goldman Sachs employees (No. 4), law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom (No. 2), and Dreamworks (No. 8).
First off, when will the media expose the charade that republicans are the party of Wall Street? They must confuse Goldman Sacs with Sacs Fifth Avenue.
None the less, I intend to boycott Comcast but then I started to wonder what exactly I would have to give up. Seriously, is there a TV show on NBC that anyone watches? I don't watch NBC, MSNBC, G4 E!, Versus or The Golf Channel so this one is a slam dunk for me.
I think the only show I've watched on a comcast network in the past three years was Law and Order and I gave up on that years ago when the villain was always the CEO of a pharmaceutical company.
Sure they're business friendly
Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar Corp., has responded to the August 24 raid of Gibson facilities in Nashville and Memphis by the Federal Government. In a press release, Juszkiewicz said: “Gibson is innocent and will fight to protect its rights. Gibson has complied with foreign laws and believes it is innocent of ANY wrong doing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence.”
The raids forced Gibson to cease manufacturing operations and send workers home for the day while armed agents executed the search warrants. “Agents seized wood that was Forest Stewardship Council controlled,” Juszkiewicz said. “Gibson has a long history of supporting sustainable and responsible sources of wood and has worked diligently with entities such as the Rainforest Alliance and Greenpeace to secure FSC-certified supplies. The wood seized on August 24 satisfied FSC standards.”
Juszkiewicz believes that the Justice Department is bullying Gibson without filing charges.
“The Federal Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. has suggested that the use of wood from India that is not finished by Indian workers is illegal, not because of U.S. law, but because it is the Justice Department’s interpretation of a law in India. (If the same wood from the same tree was finished by Indian workers, the material would be legal.) This action was taken without the support and consent of the government in India.”
Did these guys study from the "How to Create Jobs" handbook by Robert Mugabee
More......
More bad luck for Obama
This guy is quickly turning into Bad Luck Schleprock
Now he's got a hurricane to keep the economy down. Crazy given that no other presidents have had those issues.
Regardless, he should start his his future press conferences with "Oh wowsie wowsie woo woo. Miserable day, isn't it?"
Here's to you Steve Jobs
For the past two weeks I've been trying to find some lithographs of some of the older strips to frame for my mancave. While going through some of my old Bloom County books, I ran across this strip for the Banana Jr. 6000.
Given that this piece is over 25 years old, it feels every bit as appropriate today as it did then.
Steve Jobs should be proud.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
When ding dongs mold our youth
Seriously, some of these people were so stupid, I wondered how they got on the premises in the first place...... and that was just the professors.
Being surrounded by such idiots was part of the reason I gave up pursuing an education degree and decided to get a real degree.
Apparently, my experience at UC 25 years ago is not much different than today..............
Which college field of study has the lowest standards and the highest grades -- a magical Lake Wobegon world in which all the students are not just above average but way above average? If you guessed “teaching,” you’d be right.
That’s the conclusion of a new study from the conservative American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, “Grade Inflation for Education Majors and Low Standards for Teachers.”
“Students who take education classes at universities receive significantly higher grades than students who take classes in every other academic discipline,” says the report. “The ... explanation is that the higher grades in education classes are the result of low grading standards"
The study, authored by Corey Koedel, notes that education majors -- the future teachers of America, especially at the grade-school and high-school level -- routinely get top marks in the gut courses that ed majors generally take. And yet they consistently score lower on college entrance exams than students in other disciplines.It’s an amazing disparity between ability and academic “achievement” that translates in the real world into high performance evaluations and failing schools, especially in urban areas.
More.......
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity
New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, lifted by striking Verizon Communications workers, a government report showed on Thursday.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 417,000, the Labor Department said, but still nowhere near levels that would signal a recession.
Striking Verizon workers filed 8,500 claims for jobless benefits last week, after submitting 12,500 applications the previous week, which covered the period for the August nonfarm payrolls survey.
That suggests that the strike would have a negative affect on the payrolls count, which will be reported on Sept. 2. The strike against Verizon has ended.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 405,000 last week. The prior week's claims were revised up to 412,000 from the previously reported 408,000.
Hey O how much luck are your generating on those golf courses? Probably as much luck as OJ had looking for the real killer.
Also, is it just me but I keep wondering why the "adjusted" figures from the previous period are always adjusted negatively?
More.....
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Life in "Progress" State - CA edition
I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low
While the town got high
More.....The state auditor's office on Thursday added teacher pensions to the list of high-risk issues facing California government.
The report by State Auditor Elaine Howle added the nation's largest teacher pension fund because it can't meet the costs of retirement benefits beyond the next 30 years. The pension funding problem was added to a list of risks that includes California's chronic budget deficit, unfunded retiree health costs and prison crowding.
It's a well-known problem. The California State Teachers' Retirement System reported in March that it had 71 percent of the assets needed to cover retirement costs for its 852,000 members and family members. The estimated shortfall is $56 billion.
Are you poor? Are you an atheist?
I love to read thought provoking liberal blogs. Unfortunately, most liberal blog posts amount to a series of Bush = Satan....... Koch Brothers = Satan's twins.
Rarely is their much to learn from such drivel.
I've been reading more of Walter Russell Read's blog and it's becoming a daily go to.
Here's an interesting piece on economic equality and atheism...........
In fact, some recent research reveals, it is almost the other way round. According to the American Sociological Association, the uneducated and the poor (often of course the same people) are dropping God like a hot brick; the ‘bitter clingers’ are increasingly better educated and more affluent than the unchurched.
As far as I can see, this is bad news for everybody. Atheists and agnostics like to think of themselves as smarter than the God-bothering trailer trash on Tobacco Road, and deeply dislike the thought that they are losing the argument among the most intellectually qualified and best prepared; religious people have to be concerned for the future of religion when whole social classes are dropping away.
It is also very bad news for the poor. The rich can actually get along without much religion; one of the nice things about being rich is that money can frequently shield you from the consequences of a weak character and bad decisions. If you are rich enough, you can do very poorly in high school but Daddy will have a nice chat with the college president after which the school gets a new gym and you get a slot in the freshman class. You can be pretty sure that the college won’t flunk you out or expel you without a lot of second chances and counseling.
Finish the read here.......
Who did they vote for? #1009
Meet the various tweeters who took offense of Katy Perry's request for prayer for Israel......
Read some of the vile responses to her basically innocuous tweet.
If you had to guess who these fine anti Semite tweeters voted for in the last presidential election would you guess McCain or Obama?
For the life of me, I don't not understand why Jews continue to support a party polluted with these kinds of derelicts.
Everyone's generous with other people's money
Out in my particular area of "Redville", is a building with some historic significance but has not had any success with various restaurant operations that have occupied the space.
The owner is currently attempting to sell the property to a Speedway gas operation who intend to demolish the property and put up a gas station.
Last week I received an email from some people who want to preserve this property. They want to begin a mail campaign to the local township trustees who need to change the zoning for the Speedway. Here is the text of the email they want me to send out...........
Dear _ _ _
We would like to express our opposition to razing the historic 20-Mile House and ask you and the other county commissioners to develop alternatives.
· We feel that demolishing a building – especially an historic one – is a drastic solution to an owner’s difficulty paying the mortgage. We would hope that a more moderate solution could be found that may ease the owner’s mortgage difficulties and preserve the building
· We believe that razing an historic building to ease the owner’s personal finances sets a poor precedent for our community
· We object to the owner’s logic, as reported in the Enquirer, that since he has allowed much of the building’s interior historical features to be destroyed he might as well destroy the entire building
Sincerely,
Did you notice a few things.
First, there's no one stepping up to purchase this property from the current owner to relieve him of this financial burden.
Second, there's no compassion for the current owner's financial condition. Apparently, these guys have no problems watching the owner suffer so they can feel good about saving s historic building.
Third, they offer no credible plan for a better use for this property.
Look, I think it's sad that this building can't seem to have success. But I also think it's sad that the old A&W root beer stand my parents used to take us to as kids is now a veterinarian's office.
My wife and I have been to each of the operations and frankly, didn't care for any of the restaurants that have occupied the place. Frankly, the place is just too damn big for a credible restaurant operation.
None the less, I think a Speedway is an excellent choice to replace it. Why? because someone is willing to spend millions of dollars to turn a run down historic sight into something else. A plan that far exceeds anything proposed by the people running this campaign (which is nothing).
These are the same people who think that if we spend another trillion dollars or so on top of the trillions already spent on alternative energy plans it will somehow come out all right. Of course, none of them are willing to pony up any money for any of this. Just like you probably won't see any of them offer the current owner money to hold up the sale until a better use can found.
Do you think it's a coincidence that people are so much more generous with other people's money?
And we wonder why government's are in the shape they're in.
I think I'm going to send an email to these county commissioners to invest taxpayer money into a time machine. That way we can go back in time and never build the building in the first place. That would keep the place prime for a profit making operation.
Life in "Progress" City - Philadelphia edition
More......About 500 spectators were packed around the Kingsessing Recreation Center's outdoor basketball court Monday night, cheering on an adult league playoff game.
Then, at halftime, a thug in a red and black baseball hat loped across the court and fired a .40-caliber handgun 11 times into the bleachers, wounding six people.
As of Tuesday afternoon, none of those 500 witnesses were saying much to police.
So at an afternoon news conference, Mayor Nutter, flanked by Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, and a dozen other police and city officials, stood on the still blood-spotted court and offered a $20,000 reward, imploring residents to come forward and identify the "coward" who shot up the game.
Stuff liberals run - green jobs
I guess by green they mean moldy......
A federal stimulus grant of nearly $500,000 to grow trees and stimulate the economy in Nevada yielded just 1.72 jobs, according to government statistics.
In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service awarded $490,000 of stimulus money to Nevada's Clark County Urban Forestry Revitalization Project, aimed at revitalising urban neighbourhoods in the county with trees, plants, and green-industry training.
But according to Recovery.gov, the U.S. government's official website related to Recovery Act spending, the project created 1.72 permanent jobs, Fox News reported.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028942/Federal-grant-500k-boost-Nevada-economy-planting-trees-creates-1-72-jobs.html#ixzz1VwwA2L9d
Blue state exodus - Illinois edition
It didn't take long Tuesday for Illinois lawmakers to start talking about how Indiana just lured away a company and its 240 jobs fromBlue Island.
Modern Drop Forge is leaving Illinois and going about 40 miles east into Indiana after the neighboring state offered a tax incentive program for the company to move, a point made in opening remarks of Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights, at a legislative hearing on business taxes.
More......
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Welcome to government motors
Now we get word that Government Motors is gearing up to rip off GM warranty holders. Specifically (at least for now) those holding on the 2007 and 2008 Chevy Impala.
Let us flashback to GM Bailout Time: Obama his own self promised Americans that were GM unable to make good on their warranties, the government would.
From one of his famous problem-solving speeches:
“Let me say this as plainly as I can. If you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired just like always.
Your warranty will be safe. In fact, it will be safer than it has ever been. Because starting today, the United States will stand behind your warranty.”
When Obama asserts plainness or clarity – prepare for the worst kind of obfuscation.
GM is now trying to claim that their bankruptcy – which they used to illegally rip of bondholders – also allows them to rip off those who are seeking to have their GM cars repaired as per their written guarantees.
(I)n a recent filing with the U.S. District Court in Detroit, GM noted that the cars were made by its predecessor General Motors Corp, now called Motors Liquidation Co or “Old GM,” before its 2009 bankruptcy and federal bailout.
The current company, called “New GM,” said it did not assume responsibility under the reorganization to fix the Impala problem, but only to make repairs “subject to conditions and limitations” in express written warranties. In essence, the automaker said, Trusky sued the wrong entity.
“New GM’s warranty obligations for vehicles sold by Old GM are limited to the express terms and conditions in the Old GM written warranties on a going-forward basis,” wrote Benjamin Jeffers, a lawyer for GM. “New GM did not assume responsibility for Old GM’s design choices, conduct, or alleged breaches of liability under the warranty.“
So all Obama has to do is change his name, and he’s not responsible for the terrible economy he’s fostered? Same guy, same failed policies, different name – so vote for him again in 2012.
More........
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Life in "Progress" City - Baltimore edition
Andrew Wells is hoping to buy a Baltimore home for around the cost of an old car: Less than $10,000.
Turns out he's in good company.
One of every 10 city homes sold during the first half of the year — about 275 in all — fell in that price range. Twice as many sold for under $20,000.
Often foreclosures, these properties are usually in bad shape but seem like deals to real estate investors and the occasional hopeful owner-occupier — such as Wells.
"I don't have to worry about trying to get a loan," said Wells, 40, a bill-processing technician who works in Annapolis. "That was the purpose of me searching in that price range. I could buy something, pay cash, and I could live in it and renovate at the same time."
Almost exclusively a city phenomenon — very few homes in Baltimore's suburbs sold for less than $10,000 — it's a market that has expanded rapidly. More city homes sold for less than $10,000 between January and June than in all of 2009 and 2010 combined. Dozens of city neighborhoods had at least one such sale this year.
"Almost exclusively a city phenomenon" says it all in "Progress" City.
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media malpractice
Tom Friedman thinks it's too early to decide whether the media adequately vetted Obama.
Disability trust fund nearly broke
Another case study in more people hopping in the wagon rather than pulling it.............
Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security's disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.
Applications are up nearly 50 percent over a decade ago as people with disabilities lose their jobs and can't find new ones in an economy that has shed nearly 7 million jobs.
The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants — many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved — and worsening the financial problems of a program that's been running in the red for years.
New congressional estimates say the trust fund that supports Social Security disability will run out of money by 2017, leaving the program unable to pay full benefits, unless Congress acts. About two decades later, Social Security's much larger retirement fund is projected to run dry as well.
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The EPA, the business grim reaper
Hey Obama, I'll clue you in on a secret....... It's hard for an economy to create jobs when it's carrying a 4 trillion ton jackass on it's back.............
Affordable energy is critical for a prosperous economy. Yet, despite the fact that the U.S. is still in the middle of a pronounced economic slump, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of proposing or finalizing a number of air-quality regulations that would limit energy choices and increase energy prices, thus seriously retarding the economic recovery.So when your presidency goes down like the Hindenburg, don't say i didn't warn you.Economists estimate that just four of these dozens of rules could alone cost the economy trillions of dollars annually. In addition, the rules will cost millions of jobs and raise energy prices, and all with little or no public-health benefit.
On July 6, 2011, the EPA finalized the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule which will require power plants in 27 states to significantly reduce sulfur-dioxide and nitrogen-oxide emissions. By 2014, power plants will need to cut their sulfur-dioxide emissions 73 percent and nitrogen-oxide emissions by 54 percent below 2005 levels.
A second rule concerning mercury and air toxics would require existing coal- and oil-fired power plants to reduce emissions of mercury and other air pollutants to the average level of emissions of the least polluting 12 percent of plants currently operating using the same type of fuel.
The EPA is also proposing a new, more restrictive ozone standard. Though the current primary standard of 0.075 parts per million (ppm) was only set in 2008 — and is just now being implemented — the Obama administration’s EPA decided to create a new, even stricter standard — somewhere between 0.060 ppm to 0.070 ppm. Finalization of the new standard has been delayed several times and no firm date has been set for a decision.
Finally, despite little if any provable health effects from current emissions, the EPA has decided to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants.
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They were born that way
Researchers from several prominent U.S. universities will participate tomorrow in a Baltimore conference reportedly aiming to normalize pedophilia. According to the sponsoring organization’s website, the event will examine ways in which “minor-attracted persons” can be involved in a revision of the American Psychological Association (APA) classification of pedophilia.B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile activists and mental health professionals, is behind the August 17 conference, which will include panelists from Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Illinois.
B4U-ACT science director Howard Kline has criticized the definition of pedophilia by the American Psychological Association, describing its treatment of “minor-attracted persons” as “inaccurate” and “misleading.”
“It is based on data from prison studies, which completely ignore the existence of those who are law-abiding,” Kline said in a July 25 press release. “The proposed new diagnostic criteria specify ages and frequencies with no scientific basis whatsoever.”
Hey, if society can accept that homosexuality is perfectly normal why not.
More EPA killing
Purdue University's decision to cancel an upgrade to its utility plant could cost taxpayers nearly $4.5 million, a newspaper reported.The project to replace a 51-year-old boiler had been in the works nearly 10 years when Purdue officials decided to scrub it in February.Purdue officials told the Journal & Courier that the current climate doesn't support continuing the project.More.....
Since 2007, more than 60 proposed coal plants have been canceled or put on hold, and some universities have pledged to stop using coal. Last year, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it would end its use of coal in the next decade, and the Missouri University of Science and Technology is replacing its coal-fired boilers on campus with biomass.
Where have you gone Mr. Millionaire?
Newsalert has posted a chart from a Wall Street Journal blog titled “Recession and the Rich.” The chart, based on 2009 IRS figures, shows that the number of taxpayers reporting annual income over $1 million fell 39 percent between 2007 and 2009; the number of super-wealthy individuals making over $10 million annually plunged 55 percent.
The carnage wasn’t confined to millionaires. The number of taxpayers earning over $200,000 per year also decreased by 612,000 – or 13 percent.
If you are tempted to join Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in a bit of schadenfreude over the fact that nearly four in ten millionaires disappeared in two years, don't be. The chart also shows how the loss of these top income earners adversely affected the federal government’s bottom line.
In 2007, those making above $200,000 (but less than $1 million) paid $610 billion in federal income taxes. In 2009, it was only $434 billion – leading to a 29 percent decrease in government revenue.
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