1/ Even though there 100,000 shootings in the US every year, and the occasional massacre like Virginia Tech and the Arizona tragedy, the lobby to get more and more guns into our lives continues unabated. The NRA has incredible influence over politicians at both the federal and state levels, and nothing will ever change until a really, really bad thing happens.....Bob Herbert column.......
We’ve allowed the extremists to carry the day when it comes to guns in the United States, and it’s the dead and the wounded and their families who have had to pay the awful price. The idea of having large numbers of college students packing heat in their classrooms and at their parties and sporting events, or at the local pub or frat house or gymnasium, or wherever, is too stupid for words.
Thompson did not get a warm welcome at Virginia Tech. A spokesman for the school, Larry Hincker, said the fact that he “would set foot on this campus” was “terribly offensive” and “incredibly insensitive to the families of the victims.”
Just last week, a sophomore at Florida State University, Ashley Cowie, was shot to death accidentally by a 20-year-old student who, according to authorities, was showing off his rifle to a group of friends in an off-campus apartment complex favored by fraternity members. A second student was shot in the wrist. This occurred as state legislators in Florida are considering a proposal to allow people with permits to carry concealed weapons on campuses. The National Rifle Association thinks that’s a dandy idea.
The slaughter of college students — or anyone else — has never served as a deterrent to the gun fetishists. They want guns on campuses, in bars and taverns and churches, in parks and in the workplace, in cars and in the home. Ammunition everywhere — the deadlier, the better.
2/ The Jobs Crisis
No dispute - there is a major issue with the American economy and unemployment, and obviously some of it is the shipping of the industrial sector of the US the China - these jobs aren't coming back. Another is the crippled construction industry.....
But what if, despite this crisis, you're happily employed? Still have a good job. What's changed for you?
The answer is subtle - you, the employee, have lost power....the balance of power has shifted to your employer and you have less clout than you did three years ago.
So suck it up, and stop reading this DDD at work.....cue music - "working on the chain...gang..."
That the financial crisis originated here, and was so severe here, surely plays some role. The United States had a bigger housing bubble than most other countries, leaving a large group of idle construction workers who can’t easily switch industries. Many businesses, meanwhile, are reluctant to commit to hiring workers out of a fear that heavily indebted households won’t spend much in coming years.
But beyond these immediate causes, the basic structure of the American economy also seems to be an important factor. This jobless recovery, after all, is the third straight recovery since 1991 to begin with months and months of little job growth.
Why? One obvious possibility is the balance of power between employers and employees.
Relative to the situation in most other countries — or in this country for most of the last century — American employers operate with few restraints. Unions have withered, at least in the private sector, and courts have grown friendlier to business. Many companies can now come much closer to setting the terms of their relationship with employees, letting them go when they become a drag on profits and relying on remaining workers or temporary ones when business picks up.
Just consider the main measure of corporate health: profits. In Canada, Japan and most of Europe, corporate profits have still not recovered to precrisis levels. In the United States, profits have more than recovered, rising 12 percent since late 2007.
For corporate America, the Great Recession is over. For the American work force, it’s not.
3/ There are many examples of stupid business decisions that even at the time seemed stupid to outsiders, but inside companies the obvious gets clouded. Here's an example - GE, one of the smartest and most ruthless oligarchs in the country is going into "partnership" with the Chinese to give them jet engine technology, so the new Chinese planes they are building will have GE engines.....sounds good, doesn't it? I'm sure the boys at GE think they are smart enough to play the Chinese and beat them. Ha.....
The stupidity is long term. The wily orientals will learn all they can from GE and in ten, or twelve, or fifteen years will gently bankrupt them, having sucked all of the knowledge and expertise out of the company. And one of the the last big industries the US has will be gone.....
As China strives for leadership in the world’s most advanced industries, it sees commercial jetliners — planes that may someday challenge the best fromBoeing and Airbus — as a top prize.
And no Western company has been more aggressive in helping China pursue that dream than one of the aviation industry’s biggest suppliers of jet engines and airplane technology,General Electric.
On Friday, during the visit of the Chinese president,Hu Jintao, to the United States, G.E. plans to sign a joint-venture agreement in commercial aviation that shows the tricky risk-and-reward calculations American corporations must increasingly make in their pursuit of lucrative markets in China.
G.E., in the partnership with a state-owned Chinese company, will be sharing its most sophisticated airplane electronics, including some of the same technology used in Boeing’s new state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliner.
For G.E., the pact is a chance to build upon an already well-established business in China, where the company has booming sales of jet engines, mainly to Chinese airlines that are now buying Boeing and Airbus planes. But doing business in China often requires Western multinationals like G.E. to share technology and trade secrets that might eventually enable Chinese companies to beat them at their own game — by making the same products cheaper, if not better.
4/ Jon Stewart says goodbye to Michael Steele.....fairly good segment, and he's going to miss Mr. Steele, as is every comedian on TV.....
5/ A few weeks ago Darrell Issa wanted you to know he was the Obama administration's worst nightmare, as he was going to use his subpoena power to torture the government and paralyse the President.
But this article in the New Yorker has found Mr Issa to be a real mystery man with an interesting past. He has almost certaily committed arson, been arrested for grand theft auto three times, and all around has been a certified scumbag in his life before he got to Congress.....
So when you hear Fox news breathlessly lauding Issa's latest lies about Obama, just think of the source.....
A few days before Christmas, the mood in Representative Darrell Issa’s office was jovial. Outside, the hallways were filled with the House’s equivalent of scalps: wooden pallets piled high with shrink-wrapped boxes belonging to defeated or retiring Democrats. Inside, some of Issa’s closest advisers sat around talking trash. Issa, a six-term California Republican, had recently been elected chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which, according to House rules, “may at any time conduct investigations of any matter.” Now that he had been given the power to subpoena, investigate, and harass the Obama Administration, Issa was being described as a future leader of his party—and the man most likely to weaken the President before the 2012 election.
6/ Music video - Robyn, the Swedish megastar with "Indestructable"......weird, sexy video, but what does her costume mean? Must be some Nordic thing......
7/ Long article on oil drilling and the focus is a huge potential field off the coast of Angola.....fascinating stuff, and lots of detail on the oil industry and how it works....and the reasons a lot of them are cowboys.....
But one of the serious points in this is that all of the easy oil has been found - the big fields coming are in the deep ocean. But when we are desperate in a few years there will be enormous pressure to get oil, even if it means degrading the environment....
Oil reserves have been declining for a decade, and it is an article of faith among petroleum geologists that the easy oil — easier to find, less complicated to drill — has all been extracted and that the explorers are now into the hard oil. When the Deepwater Horizon rig, drilling an exploratory well deep into rock through a mile of water and three miles into the ocean floor off the Louisiana coast, struck a highly pressurized pocket of oil and gas, causing an explosion, it was in some ways a consequence of this iterative, competitive game, each generation of discoveries pushing further into the unknown.
A few years ago, the industry norm was to drill at depths of 15,000 or 20,000 feet. Now the frontier is 35,000 feet, where engineers find higher temperatures and pressures. “The scarcity of new reserves has been driving companies into plays that have previously been seen as extremely high risk and high cost,” said Brian Maxted, the chief executive officer of Kosmos Energy, a deepwater-exploration company in Dallas. “The trend recently has been in going toward ever-deeper waters and ever-more challenging environments.”
8/ Very clever video - 20 years of history in five minutes.....Dr Hans Rosling on a BBC show goes through illustrated history.....absolutely fascinating......recommended..
9/ Finally the tomato pickers are going to get their penny raise......I remember 10 years ago there were pickets at the Burger King offices in South Miami, and although they as well as the other fast food outlets caved after the public outcry the money was not paid to the pickers.....the reason for the delay may surprise you - Publix.
Although a responsible company in many ways.....decent conditions for employees, they hire challenged staff, good organic food choices etc., Publix is still run by some good ole boys out of Lakeland, Florida, cracker country, and I can just see their contempt for the Messicans and Nxxxxxxx picking their tomatoes......
Though the hamburger chains and others agreed to the increase years ago, the money they have been paying — an estimated $2 million now held in an escrow account — could not be distributed to tomato pickers until the state’s largest trade association, which acts as a middleman, agreed to lift a ban preventing their farms from passing along the extra wages.
That happened in November, when the farmworkers’ group, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a trade association, completed details of a code of conduct that included not only the wage improvement but also guarantees of increased workplace protections — like minimum-wage guarantees and a zero tolerance policy on forced and child labor — for the laborers.
..............................
But not everyone is on board. Maria Brous, a spokeswoman for Publix Super Markets, based in Lakeland, Fla., said the extra money farmworkers want to be paid should come from the growers who employ them.
Regardless, Ms. Brous added, whatever the tomatoes cost, “customers will make their own purchasing decisions.”
10/ Death by Hospital
If you don't have a living will or something in writing saying how you want your end of life care handled the medical industry will treat you and treat you and test you and hook you up to machines........as long as you have insurance or assets....
So if you have an accident, or a nasty heart attack etc. this is what will happen unless you have a living will....death by hospital.....
Plan While You Still Can
For many more of us these days, the end does not come swiftly via a heart attackor fatal accident, but rather after weeks, months or years battling a chronic illness like cancer, congestive heart failure, emphysema or Alzheime
11/ According to an Onion News poll 80% of Americans said they would vote for Sarah Palin just to find out what might happen.....great satire from the Onion....
12/ Article about how to feed your pets decent food....which means cooking for them. It's not that hard at all, as I can tell you from personal observation of the feeding process for the DDD dogs, the most coddled creatures on the planet. The diet they get is actually the same as the article.....
If you distrust the Big Agra food supply that feeds us all chemicals and sugars daily, this one's for you.....
“The dog has always been a mirror of the human style of life,” said Cesar Millan, host of the television show “The Dog Whisperer.”
“Organic has become a new fashion, a new style of living,” he said. “And if the human becomes aware, if he eats organic, he wants everyone around him to be healthy, too, especially the one that is always there for you.”
Mr. Millan was referring to the family hound, of course, but cat owners are also far from immune to the impulse.
Only a fraction of American pets are lucky enough to have a live-in cook. But millions have gone organic in recent years. Sales of organic pet food were $84 million in 2009, and have grown more than tenfold since 2002, according to theOrganic Trade Association. The group reported a sales increase of 48 percent in 2008, the year after several brands of cat and dog food were recalled formelamine contamination.
“There is a general distrust in the food supply at the moment,” said Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University and the author of “Feed Your Pet Right.” In addition, people who have chosen to eat food grown on small, sustainable nearby farms, she added, want to apply their dietary choices to their pets.
Todays video - Racism on a Plane
Todays "quotes" jokes
When Insults Had Class!
These glorious insults are from an era before the English language was
boiled down to 4-letter words. Enjoy!
boiled down to 4-letter words. Enjoy!
The exchange between Churchill & Lady Astor:
She said, "If you were my husband I'd give you poison."
He said, "If you were my wife, I'd drink it."
A member of Parliament to Disraeli
"Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable
disease."
disease."
"That depends, Sir," said Disraeli, "whether I embrace your policies
or your mistress."
or your mistress."
"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr
"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." -
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
"I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great
pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the
dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time
reading it." - Moses Hadas
reading it." - Moses Hadas
"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I
approved of it." - Mark Twain
approved of it." - Mark Twain
"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar
Wilde
Wilde
"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a
friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.
friend.... if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill.
"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second......... if there is one."
- Winston Churchill, in response.
"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." -
Stephen Bishop
Stephen Bishop
"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright
"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing
trivial." - Irvin S.Cobb
trivial." - Irvin S.Cobb
"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."
- Samuel Johnson
- Samuel Johnson
"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating
"In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily." -
Charles Count Talleyrand
Charles Count Talleyrand
"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker
"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on
it?" - Mark Twain
it?" - Mark Twain
"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." -
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support
rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
"He has Van Gogh's ear for music." - Billy Wilder
"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it." -
Groucho Marx
Groucho Marx
Todays seniors joke
Shown below, is an actual letter that was sent to a bank by an 86 year old woman.
The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.
The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in the New York Times.
Dear Sir:
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my check with which I endeavored to pay my plumber last month.
By my calculations, three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honor it..
I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years.
You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account $30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.
My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.
I noticed that whereas I personally answer your telephone calls and letters, --- when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.
From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.
My mortgage and loan repayments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by check,addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.
Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.
Please find attached an Application Contact which I require your chosen employee to complete.
I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.
Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Notary Public, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, at MY convenience, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me.
I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modeled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.
As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further.
When you call me, press buttons as follows:
IMMEDIATELY AFTER DIALING, PRESS THE STAR (*) BUTTON FOR ENGLISH
#1. To make an appointment to see me
#2. To query a missing payment.
#3. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
#4 To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping
#5. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
#6.. To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home
#7. To leave a message on my computer, a password to access my computer is required.
Password will be communicated to you at a later date to that Authorized Contact mentioned earlier.
#8. To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 7.
#9. To make a general complaint or inquiry.
The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service.
#10. This is a second reminder to press* for English.
While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.
May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous New Year?
Your Humble Client
And remember: Don 't make old People mad.
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off.
Todays Minnesota joke
There is a factory in Northern Minnesota which makes the Tickle Me Elmo toys. The toy laughs when you tickle it under the arms.
Well, Lena is hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 am.
The next day at 8:45 am there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door. The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee.
Well, Lena is hired at The Tickle Me Elmo factory and she reports for her first day promptly at 8:00 am.
The next day at 8:45 am there is a knock at the Personnel Manager's door. The Foreman throws open the door and begins to rant about the new employee.
He complains that she is incredibly slow and the whole line is backing up, putting the entire production line behind schedule.
The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pile up.
At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains
The Personnel Manager decides he should see this for himself, so the 2 men march down to the factory floor. When they get there the line is so backed up that there are Tickle Me Elmo's all over the factory floor and they're really beginning to pile up.
At the end of the line stands Lena surrounded by mountains
of Tickle Me Elmo's. She has a roll of plush Red fabric and a huge bag of small marbles.
The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs.
The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena.
'I'm sorry,' he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, 'but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday...'
'Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles.
The 2 men watch in amazement as she cuts a little piece of fabric, wraps it around two marbles and begins to carefully sew the little package between Elmo's legs.
The Personnel Manager bursts into laughter. After several minutes of hysterics he pulls himself together and approaches Lena.
'I'm sorry,' he says to her, barely able to keep a straight face, 'but I think you misunderstood the instructions I gave you yesterday...'
'Your job is to give Elmo two test tickles.
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