Shoe Battles - Going Toe-to-Toe in Stilettos - NYTimes.com:
"The designer shoe industry, to some extent, relies on the willful suspension of rational thinking, the giving over to a more primal urge (to shop, that is) in order to move merchandise that common sense would suggest is patently, obscenely, even self-destructively overpriced."
Friday, June 21, 2013
Amendment Would Give Legal Status To People Displaced By Climate Change
Amendment Would Give Legal Status To People Displaced By Climate Change | ThinkProgress:
"Senator Brian Schatz’s (D-HI) filed an amendment for the immigration bill Wednesday that would allow stateless people in the U.S. to seek conditional lawful status if their nations have been made uninhabitable by climate change."
"Senator Brian Schatz’s (D-HI) filed an amendment for the immigration bill Wednesday that would allow stateless people in the U.S. to seek conditional lawful status if their nations have been made uninhabitable by climate change."
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Detroit's Debt Crisis: Everything Must Go
Detroit's Debt Crisis: Everything Must Go | Politics News | Rolling Stone:
"Detroit's Debt Crisis: Everything Must GoThe city just suspended its payments to Wall Street.
But is this the beginning of a resurrection for the city – or an organ sale?"
"Detroit's Debt Crisis: Everything Must GoThe city just suspended its payments to Wall Street.
But is this the beginning of a resurrection for the city – or an organ sale?"
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings
The F.B.I. Deemed Agents Faultless in 150 Shootings - NYTimes.com:
WASHINGTON — After contradictory stories emerged about anF.B.I. agent’s killing last month of a Chechen man in Orlando, Fla., who was being questioned over ties to the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, the bureau reassured the public that it would clear up the murky episode.
“The F.B.I. takes very seriously any shooting incidents involving our agents, and as such we have an effective, time-tested process for addressing them internally,” a bureau spokesman said.
But if such internal investigations are time-tested, their outcomes are also predictable: from 1993 to early 2011, F.B.I. agents fatally shot about 70 “subjects” and wounded about 80 others — and every one of those episodes was deemed justified, according to interviews and internal F.B.I. records obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The last two years have followed the same pattern: an F.B.I. spokesman said that since 2011, there had been no findings of improper intentional shootings.
In most of the shootings, the F.B.I.’s internal investigation was the only official inquiry.
Minnesota Author Vince Flynn Dies At 47
Minnesota Author Vince Flynn Dies At 47 « CBS Minnesota:
"Minnesota author Vince Flynn has died after a long battle with prostate cancer."
TOTAL BUMMER!
RIP Vince.
"Minnesota author Vince Flynn has died after a long battle with prostate cancer."
TOTAL BUMMER!
RIP Vince.
Living in Fear: Welcome to Fascist America
Roger L. Simon » Living in Fear: Welcome to Fascist America:
"Back in the ’80s when, on a couple of occasions, I visited the Soviet Union, I always wondered what was it really like to live in that godforsaken place.
But it didn’t much matter.
For all the creepy spying that was going on, I realized I’d be out of there in a week or two.
Now I know what it was like. It’s come home.
I live in fear.
I don’t want to admit it, but it’s true.
Every phone call I make, every email I send, every text I message, every article I write including this one, I imagine being bugged or recorded.
1984 is here and it’s not pretty.
It infects everything we do."
"Back in the ’80s when, on a couple of occasions, I visited the Soviet Union, I always wondered what was it really like to live in that godforsaken place.
But it didn’t much matter.
For all the creepy spying that was going on, I realized I’d be out of there in a week or two.
Now I know what it was like. It’s come home.
I live in fear.
I don’t want to admit it, but it’s true.
Every phone call I make, every email I send, every text I message, every article I write including this one, I imagine being bugged or recorded.
1984 is here and it’s not pretty.
It infects everything we do."
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Muskegon County not included in distribution of $100 million in blight-reduction funds
Muskegon County not included in distribution of $100 million in blight-reduction funds | MLive.com:
"As a whole, 10.8 percent of Muskegon County homes were vacant in the 2010 Census.
That compares to 12 percent in Genesee County (Flint) and 14.5 percent in Wayne County (Detroit), and just 8 percent in Kent County (Grand Rapids),"
"As a whole, 10.8 percent of Muskegon County homes were vacant in the 2010 Census.
That compares to 12 percent in Genesee County (Flint) and 14.5 percent in Wayne County (Detroit), and just 8 percent in Kent County (Grand Rapids),"
Court Decision Could Unplug Green Energy Mandate in Michigan
Commentary: Court Decision Could Unplug Green Energy Mandate in Michigan [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"Writing for the majority, Judge Richard Posner wrote: "Michigan cannot, without violating the commerce clause of Article I of the Constitution, discriminate against out-of-state renewable energy."
That single sentence may throw into jeopardy Michigan's entire renewable energy mandate, Public Act 295, which requires Michigan utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from in-state renewable sources by 2015."
"Writing for the majority, Judge Richard Posner wrote: "Michigan cannot, without violating the commerce clause of Article I of the Constitution, discriminate against out-of-state renewable energy."
That single sentence may throw into jeopardy Michigan's entire renewable energy mandate, Public Act 295, which requires Michigan utilities to generate 10 percent of their electricity from in-state renewable sources by 2015."
The Magic, Fairy Dust Naivete That Is Progressive Economics
The Magic, Fairy Dust Naivete That Is Progressive Economics | Somewhat Reasonable:
"Let’s proclaim the Good News: Government money is free.
No, not just to the beneficiaries of government programs.
To society as a whole.
Meaning there is no economic cost to government spending whatsoever.
The more the government spends, the richer we will all be.
Let the Good Times roll."
"Let’s proclaim the Good News: Government money is free.
No, not just to the beneficiaries of government programs.
To society as a whole.
Meaning there is no economic cost to government spending whatsoever.
The more the government spends, the richer we will all be.
Let the Good Times roll."
Russ Feingold Gets Government Placeholder Job Before 2016 Senate Rematch with Ron Johnson
Russ Feingold Gets Government Placeholder Job Before 2016 Senate Rematch with Ron Johnson - Right Wisconsin - Conservative politics and perspective powered by Charlie Sykes:
"John Kerry calls it a high level priority.
It's official. Russ Feingold's long 29-and-a-half month exile to the private sector is over.
He has just been named as the U.S. special envoy for Africa Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"John Kerry calls it a high level priority.
It's official. Russ Feingold's long 29-and-a-half month exile to the private sector is over.
He has just been named as the U.S. special envoy for Africa Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Rationale for Wind Power Won't Fly
Jay Lehr: The Rationale for Wind Power Won't Fly - WSJ.com
To understand the folly that drives too much of the nation's energy policies, consider these basic facts about wind energy.
After decades of federal subsidies—almost $24 billion according to a recent estimate by former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm—nowhere in the United States, or anywhere else, has an array of wind turbines replaced a single conventional power plant.
To understand the folly that drives too much of the nation's energy policies, consider these basic facts about wind energy.
After decades of federal subsidies—almost $24 billion according to a recent estimate by former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm—nowhere in the United States, or anywhere else, has an array of wind turbines replaced a single conventional power plant.
Nowhere.
But wind farms do take up space.
But wind farms do take up space.
The available data from wind-power companies, with which the Environmental Protection Agency agrees, show that the most effective of them can generate about five kilowatts per acre.
This means 300 square miles of land—192,000 acres—are necessary to generate the 1,000 megawatts (a billion watts) of electricity that a conventional power plant using coal, nuclear energy or natural gas can generate on a few hundred acres.
A billion watts fulfills the average annual power demand of a city of 700,000.
Amnesty bill will give every illegal alien a taxpayer-funded lawyer |
Amnesty bill will give every illegal alien a taxpayer-funded lawyer |:
"The attorney general could provide a taxpayer-funded defense attorney to any illegal alien or group of illegal aliens to help them fight deportation in court, a costly benefit to which they are not now entitled, and to which U.S. citizens are not entitled in administrative proceedings (deportation is an administrative, not a criminal, matter)"
"The attorney general could provide a taxpayer-funded defense attorney to any illegal alien or group of illegal aliens to help them fight deportation in court, a costly benefit to which they are not now entitled, and to which U.S. citizens are not entitled in administrative proceedings (deportation is an administrative, not a criminal, matter)"
Detroit's recovery plan dips into pensions to keep city afloat
Detroit's recovery plan dips into pensions to keep city afloat | Crain's Detroit Business:
"Orr's plan will test retirees' contention that Michigan's constitution protects vested pension benefits.
No such shield exists, the state-appointed manager's advisers said Friday when they unveiled his plan to restructure Michigan's largest city, a former auto-manufacturing powerhouse that lost one-quarter of its population since 2000.
Orr has said that if he doesn't get what he wants, Chapter 9 bankruptcy would be a last resort.
Detroit missed a $39.7 million payment on debt issued to bolster its pensions that was due Friday, its first failure to repay bondholders.
The city has about $1.5 billion of such obligations, which Fitch Ratings cut yesterday to D, its lowest credit grade."
"Orr's plan will test retirees' contention that Michigan's constitution protects vested pension benefits.
No such shield exists, the state-appointed manager's advisers said Friday when they unveiled his plan to restructure Michigan's largest city, a former auto-manufacturing powerhouse that lost one-quarter of its population since 2000.
Orr has said that if he doesn't get what he wants, Chapter 9 bankruptcy would be a last resort.
Detroit missed a $39.7 million payment on debt issued to bolster its pensions that was due Friday, its first failure to repay bondholders.
The city has about $1.5 billion of such obligations, which Fitch Ratings cut yesterday to D, its lowest credit grade."
Union Contract: Teachers Can Be Caught In School Drunk Five Times and On Drugs Three Times Before ...
Union Contract: Teachers Can Be Caught In School Drunk Five Times and On Drugs Three Times Before ... [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"Teachers in possession or under the influence of illegal drugs could be caught three times before they lost their job, and they got five strikes if they were drunk on school grounds before being fired.
A school district official said the language in the union contract that protects teachers for those instances "was incorporated into the teacher Master Agreement in 1997."
"Teachers in possession or under the influence of illegal drugs could be caught three times before they lost their job, and they got five strikes if they were drunk on school grounds before being fired.
A school district official said the language in the union contract that protects teachers for those instances "was incorporated into the teacher Master Agreement in 1997."
Whitehall Township Residents Should Say 'Yes' To Wal-Mart
Commentary: Whitehall Township Residents Should Say 'Yes' To Wal-Mart [Michigan Capitol Confidential]:
"Groups like BOW NOT claim to speak for the community, but they often represent a narrow slice of citizens, and those tend to be ones for whom the benefits of a more conveniently located Wal-Mart are not significant enough to matter.
For the struggling families who benefit most from Wal-Mart's low prices, greater variety and convenience, and the jobs they provide, having one even closer to home can be a big difference maker."
"Groups like BOW NOT claim to speak for the community, but they often represent a narrow slice of citizens, and those tend to be ones for whom the benefits of a more conveniently located Wal-Mart are not significant enough to matter.
For the struggling families who benefit most from Wal-Mart's low prices, greater variety and convenience, and the jobs they provide, having one even closer to home can be a big difference maker."
Experts say fraud rampant in federal worker disability program
Experts say fraud rampant in federal worker disability program | WashingtonExaminer.com:
"First of a three-part series
A postal worker who ran marathons found her race times improved after she began drawing federal disability checks for an alleged back injury.
Another disabled federal employee went scuba diving, skied in Switzerland and did flips on a trapeze. She spent part of her $193,000 in disability payments on a boat named "Free Ride" before she was caught.
A Justice Department lawyer collected $90,000 in annual disability checks after claiming the stress of his job kept him off the job. Apparently the cable TV show he began hosting while drawing disability pay wasn't so stressful."
"First of a three-part series
A postal worker who ran marathons found her race times improved after she began drawing federal disability checks for an alleged back injury.
Another disabled federal employee went scuba diving, skied in Switzerland and did flips on a trapeze. She spent part of her $193,000 in disability payments on a boat named "Free Ride" before she was caught.
A Justice Department lawyer collected $90,000 in annual disability checks after claiming the stress of his job kept him off the job. Apparently the cable TV show he began hosting while drawing disability pay wasn't so stressful."
James O’Keefe targets ‘Obamaphones’ in latest undercover investigation
James O’Keefe targets ‘Obamaphones’ in latest undercover investigation | WashingtonExaminer.com
"James O’Keefe is back – this time targeting cell phone stores participating in the government program to offer free phones to low income individuals – or ‘Obamaphones.’
O’Keefe’s latest video features his investigators getting free phones from a store in Philadelphia, explicitly telling the employees that they planned to sell them for cash to buy designer hand bags or heroin.
One employee responds, “Hey, I don’t judge.”
Another responds, “Just keep it to yourself.”
Another employee reminds an investigator that it’s illegal to sell the phone, but tells her to “plead the Fifth” if she is caught."
"James O’Keefe is back – this time targeting cell phone stores participating in the government program to offer free phones to low income individuals – or ‘Obamaphones.’
O’Keefe’s latest video features his investigators getting free phones from a store in Philadelphia, explicitly telling the employees that they planned to sell them for cash to buy designer hand bags or heroin.
One employee responds, “Hey, I don’t judge.”
Another responds, “Just keep it to yourself.”
Another employee reminds an investigator that it’s illegal to sell the phone, but tells her to “plead the Fifth” if she is caught."
3 Things You Should Know About the Supreme Court and Voter ID
3 Things You Should Know About the Supreme Court and Voter ID
1. This is not a voter ID decision.
2. Federal law already mandates that a person must be a U.S. citizen to vote.
3. States do determine the qualifications of their voters.
1. This is not a voter ID decision.
2. Federal law already mandates that a person must be a U.S. citizen to vote.
3. States do determine the qualifications of their voters.
Monday, June 17, 2013
AMA Considers Classifying Obesity As A Disease
AMA Considers Classifying Obesity As A Disease - Forbes:
"“More widespread recognition of obesity as a disease could result in greater investment by government and the private sector to develop and reimburse obesity treatments,” a 14-page report released by the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health said."
"“More widespread recognition of obesity as a disease could result in greater investment by government and the private sector to develop and reimburse obesity treatments,” a 14-page report released by the AMA’s Council on Science and Public Health said."
Treasury’s ‘Extraordinary’ Accounting: Deficit UP $138.7B in May, Debt DOWN $90B
Treasury’s ‘Extraordinary’ Accounting: Deficit UP $138.7B in May, Debt DOWN $90B | CNS News
Where did that additional $49.574 billion come from?
CNSNews.com asked the Treasury Department. A department spokesman pointed to the letter Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew sent to House Speaker John Boehner on May 17, which explained that the Treasury was going to begin using “extraordinary measures” to avoid hitting the current legal limit on the federal government’s debt.
.....Among the “extraordinary measures” the Treasury can use during a “Debt Issuance Suspension Period,” Lew explained in the appendix to his letter, is to change the way it accounts for the pension funds of federal employees.
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