June 27, 2012

96,000 here...150,000 there.. Here a blocked vote, there a blocked vote

C'Mon local Dems.. YOU KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE.. GET THEM THE ID THEY NEED..AND DO IT QUICKLY.

Complaining on TV about how unfair it all is, will NOT work.

We've only known about the devious actions of Republicans since... well FOREVER..

Spend those precious resources on getting the IDs necessary, and spend money on lawyers AFTER the election.


I know there will be people here and there who cannot get whatever papers are necessary in order to get an ID, but the "rare" case of a 95 yr old born on a farm with no birth certificate is no reason to stonewall and let all the others get shoved aside on election day.

This is a WAR.. We have to start pushing back...and perhaps even asking new registrants to register REPUBLICAN..especially in the "danger areas".

June 27, 2012

A suggestion for the 30-35 possible turncoat Dems in the house

STAY HOME THE DAY OF THE VOTE.

Lending a hand to republicans so they can get "cover" with a BI-PARTISAN vote is nothing to be proud of.

The vote will be overwhelmingly republican anyway, so why bother to boost their numbers.

If you are too "askeered" to vote NO, then just stay the F home & watch Fox News.

June 27, 2012

A Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the city of nearly 300,000 (Stockton, CA)

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/27/economy-stockton-idINL2E8HQ3XU20120627
* Stockton has $700 mln outstanding debt

By Jim Christie

STOCKTON, Calif., June 27 (Reuters) - Stockton, California will become the largest U.S. city to seek protection from its creditors after its leaders approved a budget on Tuesday night based on the city filing for bankruptcy.

A Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the city of nearly 300,000 in California's Central Valley, about 85 miles (135 km) east of San Francisco, could come as early as Wednesday.

Stockton's city council voted six to one in favor of the 2012-2013 budget after a contentious five-hour meeting where angry retired city workers pressed council members to reject the $155 million spending plan. It proposes eliminating retirees' medical benefits to help fill a $26 million budget deficit.

Retired police department employee Geri Ridge said she fears not being able to afford health-care insurance. "I don't have that kind of income," said Ridge, 56, noting she is concerned a large share of her $1,895 monthly pension payment could be consumed by large insurance costs due to her history of heart attacks.

snip

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ONE city with 700 million in debts..WTF..
Multiply this by all the other US cities that have been starved by Bush and then crushed again by the depression/recession, and we have a HUGE problem.

There is NO way these debts can be repaid, no matter how many retirees they kill off (by cutting off health care they EARNED)

June 27, 2012

Adelson is willing to pay 400 million to oust Obama. Would his tax bill be that high?

or would the combined tax bills of the "Billionaire Boyz Club" be as much as they are willing to bribe republicans with?

It amazes me how they whine & boo-hoo-hoo over their need for tax relief, and yet they throw wads of cash (the country really needs) at every sleazy republican they see.

Election cycles are no longer "every 4 years" , with minor ones every year locally. We have a Rube Goldberg Perpetual Election Machine going full throttle 24/7 year-round, and the republican electioneering beast must be fed non-stop. Local/state races are now beneficiaries of the **BBC because every lowly republican elected to small offices all over, may some day be elevated to a pivotal judgeship, congressional seat , senate, or even presidency.

There is always enough money for bribes, but never enough money for taxes.

June 26, 2012

Finally ! Some good (and interesting) news from Greece.. enjoy

http://news.yahoo.com/subway-unearths-ancient-road-greece-215137746.html

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/7Dp1GjVFgvM3RJ6LFU0knw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Y2g9NDIwO2NyPTE7Y3c9NjMwO2R4PTA7ZHk9MDtmaT11bGNyb3A7aD00MjA7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Archaeologists in Greece's second-largest city have uncovered a 70-meter (230-foot) section of an ancient road built by the Romans that was the city's main travel artery nearly 2,000 years ago.

The marble-paved road was unearthed during excavations for Thessaloniki's new subway system, which is due to be completed in four years. The road in the northern port city will be raised to be put on permanent display when the metro opens in 2016. The excavation site was shown to the public on Monday, when details of the permanent display project were also announced. Several of the large marble paving stones were etched with children's board games, while others were marked by horse-drawn cart wheels.

Also discovered at the site were remains of tools and lamps, as well as the bases of marble columns. Viki Tzanakouli, an archaeologist working on the project, told The Associated Press the Roman road was about 1,800 years old, while remains of an older road built by the ancient Greeks 500 years earlier were found underneath it. "We have found roads on top of each other, revealing the city's history over the centuries," Tzanakouli said. "The ancient road, and side roads perpendicular to it appear to closely follow modern roads in the city today."

[Slideshow: Rare trove of ancient jewelry found]

About 7 meters (23 feet) below ground in the center of the city, the ancient road follows in roughly the same direction as the city's modern Egnatia Avenue. The subway works, started in 2006, present a rare opportunity for archaeologists to explore under the densely populated city — but have also caused years of delays for the project.

snip

June 26, 2012

If Issa wants to "investigate", here's a goodie for him

34 Lawmakers Changed Their Investments After Receiving Private Briefings About 2008 Economic Crisis

34 Lawmakers Changed Their Investments After Receiving Private Briefings About 2008 Economic Crisis

By Pat Garofalo on Jun 25, 2012 at 9:33 am

Last November, 60 Minutes aired a report showing that House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL) made tens of thousands of dollars trading stock as he was receiving private economic briefings during the height of the 2008 financial crisis. Due to weak insider trading rules, Bachus was cleared of any legal wrongdoing by the Congressional Ethics Committee, but the case still motivated Congress to pass the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, which supposedly prevents lawmakers from profiting off information they receive in private briefings with top economic officials.

However, the problem may go far beyond just Bachus. As the Washington Post reported on Monday, 34 lawmakers — including Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) — shuffled their investment portfolios during the financial crisis, after speaking to high-ranking economic officials:

Boehner is one of 34 members of Congress who took steps to recast their financial portfolios during the financial crisis after phone calls or meetings with [Treasury Secretary Hank] Paulson; his successor, Timothy F. Geithner; or Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, according to a Washington Post examination of appointment calendars and congressional disclosure forms. The lawmakers, many of whom held leadership positions and committee chairmanships in the House and Senate, changed portions of their portfolios a total of 166 times within two business days of speaking or meeting with the administration officials. The party affiliation of the lawmakers was about evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, 19 to 15.

After speaking with Paulson, Boehner shifted $50,000 to $100,000 out of a risky mutual fund, and spent tens of thousands of dollars more on a less-risky fund. Other lawmakers who were making investment decisions after receiving private information at the time included Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). The lawmakers contend that their investments are overseen by outside advisers and that the private information had no bearing on their portfolio moves.

snip


MORE DETAILED shenanigans @

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lawmakers-reworked-financial-portfolios-after-talks-with-fed-treasury-officials/2012/06/24/gJQAnQPg0V_story_1.html


and a graph that shows their stock trades aligned with their phone calls & meetings

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/capitol-assets/congressional-financial-transactions-federal-reserve-schedule/

June 26, 2012

Aaaw, Zach Wamp's sonny-boy, Weston is following Dad into politics (he's 25)

Morning Joe is asking why he wants to follow Daddy's footsteps..

Gee whiz, Joe....Why NOT?

What 25 yr old would NOT want a job where there's always time off..
There's no heavy lifting..
Starting salary is a 6 figure income, and your staff is paid for by the govt..
You get to travel for free..
Your campaign expenses are paid by secret sugar daddies

Pretty sweet deal, to be paid to schmooze and do nothing.

June 26, 2012

If you are a business-owner and your clientele base ages and dies off, who will buy your product?

I saw this firsthand as my Aunt's boutique clothing business "died" off as she aged. She was as vigorous as ever, and still a crafty entrepreneur, BUT her customers were a very niche-y bunch of women. Right across the street from her shoppe was the Bell Telephone office (chock-ful of most of the women workers in our town ...aside from the waitresses, nurses etc and others who wore uniforms at their jobs). There was also a "business school", where they churned out class after class of "newly liberated" young women who would go on to become secretaries, office managers, stenographers ...think Mad Men..for real).

For about 20 years she had a little goldmine, and more customers than she could accommodate sometimes. She ordered with them in mind, and they paid her back by being loyal shoppers.

During the '60's , I was her one and only employee, so of course she started catering to the teen-set, but we were a fickle bunch, and we shopped all over the place.

But she still had her loyal phone company/business school ladies.

but I digress....................

The one thing she did not figure into her business plan was that slowly but surely automation/mergers and family creation would eat into her sales, and then of course as women "retired" and stayed home with babies, they no longer shopped on their lunch hours and they no longer needed new dresses, shoes, coats & jewelry.

The final blow was, after many years, the women who stayed loyal to her shoppe, started really retiring.

Her shoppe was a small fish in a sea of malls that sprang up, and the death knell probably was due to that as well, but the real business-killer was the fact that her specialty clientele "outgrew" her place, and new customers either were pickier or more fickle or both.

The health care insurance industry is facing a similar fate sooner rather than later, and they should be on their knees, kissing Obama's feet, instead of behind him with a dagger.

WHO WILL PAY THEIR EVER-INCREASING PRICES FOR COVERAGE?

The ONLY thing that has kept them viable & has made their CEOs rich-beyond-all-comprehension is the HUGE pool of Boomer-workers who caught the tail-end of what was left of the "American Dream" job market.

The workers **(C.O.B) who followed the Boomers, are likely to be at opposite ends of the wage-spectrum. A few will be in speculative or highly-prized/paid occupations and will always sit at the front of the Gravy Train, still making big bucks and retaining the ability to pay high premiums, but the majority are having wages lowered/eliminated; they are clinging to a raggedy rope as they are dragged down the tracks behind the caboose and they can no longer even participate in the ponzi scheme.

The "mandate" was the bon mot tossed into the gaping maws of the insurance companies, to force people to continue to "buy" from them. If SCOTUS axes it, the insurance companies have the MOST to lose, since their product ...."permission slips" is becoming too costly for the 99%ers, and the 1%ers don't "need" the coverage.

The "Greatest Generation" is dying off, and they have been on Medicare for a very long time now. The "Largest Generation" is ticking days off the calendar as they too graduate into Medicare, and out of the clutches of **"G.B.I.C."

The "<insert appellations here> Generations" that follow are mostly uninterested and unable to participate in the scheme as we go forward.

Just how on earth does a generation of **"E.C.D" get into the "game"...or even want to play the game.

** Children of Boomers
** Greedy Bastard Insurance Companies
** Extreme College Debt

June 25, 2012

As usual, semantics is overlooked by most media-types.

Detained vs ARRESTED.

When the ruling on AZ shit-law came down, it was first reported that when ARRESTED, cops could (and should) check immigration status, and that makes "some" sense, since the costs of incarceration could then be shifted to the feds, and AZ could shift the burden to the feds.


NOW the talking heads are saying "DETAINED" people will be forced to prove they are "legal"..

There is an ocean of difference here, since a few cocky cops can say "Hey, that dude over there looks illegal..let's detain him"...vs cops/detectives catch and arrest someone, and as part of booking him/her, they check status.

There needs to be some MAJOR clarification by the court.

June 24, 2012

Playa del Gulpiyuri.. A Strange (ocean) Beach in the Middle of a Meadow

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/playa-de-gulpiyuri-a-strange-beach-in-the-middle-of-a-meadow.html
Playa de Gulpiyuri – A Strange Beach in the Middle of a Meadow

By Spooky on June 6th, 2012 Category: Pics, Travel
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Tucked away into a small inland hollow, right in the middle of a meadow, Playa de Gulpiyuri is one of the most amazing beaches in the world.

We’ve certainly featured some unique places here, on Oddity Central, and even a few incredible beaches, like the hot water beach of New Zealand or California’s glass beach, but none like the beach of Gulpiyuri. Located near the charming town of Llanes, on the northern coast of Spain, Gulpiyuri Beach is unlike anything I have ever seen, or even imagined existed outside of fantasy books or fictional planets. Imagine walking over 100 meters from the sea shoreline and stumbling over a small charming beach right in the middle of a green meadow. And while you may find other beaches completely hidden from the open sea, around the world, this one is actually fully tidal and even has waves bathing the small strip of golden sand.

snip....


video and more pics at link