Now, we’ve all seen some pretty unnecessary compilations in our day…but this one might be the worst of all.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002858ZW.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
you can buy it here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002858ZW/qid=1098936358/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-1944277-9227126?v=glance&s=music&n=507846
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Monday, October 25, 2004
STOP THIS (INSERT TEAM NAME HERE) Nation Crap
First it was Raider Nation, then (being in Oregon) it's Beaver nation. I just read a story about "Gator Nation", in a story about Mr. Zook.
STOP THE NONSENSE.
NO MORE XNation anything.
Add this to this list of things that annoy me...along with
People who say "Literally" when they REALLY MEAN "Virtually"...No one EVER "Literally loses their mind" or "literally froze their ass off".
People who say SAMwich when they mean SANDwich.
OH, there's more, but this will do.
STOP THE NONSENSE.
NO MORE XNation anything.
Add this to this list of things that annoy me...along with
People who say "Literally" when they REALLY MEAN "Virtually"...No one EVER "Literally loses their mind" or "literally froze their ass off".
People who say SAMwich when they mean SANDwich.
OH, there's more, but this will do.
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
First Putin, Now Iran
Monday, October 18, 2004
Detached from Reality...AGAIN
Thompson denies Flu Shot shortage is crisis:
How many more people will die this year because they didn’t get shots?
Kerry blew it on this question in the 3rd debate. He should have hammered the President on his opposition to drugs from Canada because we don’t want out drugs coming from a “3rd world Country” when Half of the medicine that saves 10s of thousands of life every year comes from England. Kerry also should have hammered the president when he tried to give the FDA credit for closing the factory in England, and then launced into why the FDA under Bush ordered scientists to SHUT UP about dangers of VIOXX.
SHAMEFUL.
How many more people will die this year because they didn’t get shots?
Kerry blew it on this question in the 3rd debate. He should have hammered the President on his opposition to drugs from Canada because we don’t want out drugs coming from a “3rd world Country” when Half of the medicine that saves 10s of thousands of life every year comes from England. Kerry also should have hammered the president when he tried to give the FDA credit for closing the factory in England, and then launced into why the FDA under Bush ordered scientists to SHUT UP about dangers of VIOXX.
SHAMEFUL.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Banner Day for Bush
Record Deficit:
Government spending for the year ended September 30 rose 6.2 per cent to $US2.29 trillion, swamping income, which climbed 5.5 per cent to $US1.88 trillion, the Treasury Department said.
The result: the deficit mushroomed 9.5 per cent from the previous year to $US413 billion, equal to 3.6 per cent of total economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP).
Trade Deficit:
The Commerce Department said the August trade deficit in goods and services was 6.9 percent higher than a $50.5 billion imbalance in July. A small 0.1 percent rise in exports was dwarfed by a 2.5 percent jump in imports. For the year, America's trade deficit is running at a record annual rate of $590 billion, 19 percent higher than the previous record, last year's $496.5 billion imbalance.
Job Claims UP:
In a second economic report, the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted level of 352,000. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly changes, rose by 4,000 to a seven-month high of 352,000.
Treasury Dept. to use Enron Accounting to cover it's ass: Here too.
WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department suspended investments in a federal employee pension fund on Thursday to keep the government below its borrowing limit, Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a letter to Congress.
Snow said payments to the $56 billion Federal Employee Retirement System's Government Securities Investment Fund, known as the G-fund, would be restored once Congress raises the $7.384 trillion debt ceiling.
Nukes flew out of Iraq. (Nice work...don't you feel safer?)
The United Nations nuclear watchdog told the Security Council this week that equipment and materials that could be used to make atomic weapons had been vanishing from Iraq without either Baghdad or Washington noticing.
"This process carried on at least through 2003 ... and probably into 2004, at least in early 2004," said a Western diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitored Iraq's nuclear sites before last year's war.
Government spending for the year ended September 30 rose 6.2 per cent to $US2.29 trillion, swamping income, which climbed 5.5 per cent to $US1.88 trillion, the Treasury Department said.
The result: the deficit mushroomed 9.5 per cent from the previous year to $US413 billion, equal to 3.6 per cent of total economic output, or gross domestic product (GDP).
Trade Deficit:
The Commerce Department said the August trade deficit in goods and services was 6.9 percent higher than a $50.5 billion imbalance in July. A small 0.1 percent rise in exports was dwarfed by a 2.5 percent jump in imports. For the year, America's trade deficit is running at a record annual rate of $590 billion, 19 percent higher than the previous record, last year's $496.5 billion imbalance.
Job Claims UP:
In a second economic report, the Labor Department said the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 15,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted level of 352,000. The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out weekly changes, rose by 4,000 to a seven-month high of 352,000.
Treasury Dept. to use Enron Accounting to cover it's ass: Here too.
WASHINGTON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department suspended investments in a federal employee pension fund on Thursday to keep the government below its borrowing limit, Treasury Secretary John Snow said in a letter to Congress.
Snow said payments to the $56 billion Federal Employee Retirement System's Government Securities Investment Fund, known as the G-fund, would be restored once Congress raises the $7.384 trillion debt ceiling.
Nukes flew out of Iraq. (Nice work...don't you feel safer?)
The United Nations nuclear watchdog told the Security Council this week that equipment and materials that could be used to make atomic weapons had been vanishing from Iraq without either Baghdad or Washington noticing.
"This process carried on at least through 2003 ... and probably into 2004, at least in early 2004," said a Western diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which monitored Iraq's nuclear sites before last year's war.
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
I wish Business was run more like the Federal Govt
I can probably assure you that if anyone at my company (large Multinational) spent half a million dollars on a party to honor 500 people, (though I doubt it would happen), they would be fired. And we are a company that does spend a decent amount on recognition and awards and not only that, but we NET a couple of Billion dollars every 3 months.
I wonder how much bomb sniffing technology $500K will buy?
AP: Report Finds Lavish Spending at TSA
By LESLIE MILLER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a "lifetime achievement award" for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.
The investigation by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, also found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency, and failed to provide adequate justification in more than a third of the 88 cases examined.
The report said lower-level employees were shortchanged, with a far lower percentage receiving bonuses.
"A substantial inequity exists in TSA's performance recognition program between executive and non-executive employees," the report said.
TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said the agency believes the bonuses and party were justified "given the hours and productivity of the work force during this critical period."
This year, said von Walter, the TSA will conduct awards ceremonies at individual airports, as well as a much smaller and less expensive event at its headquarters in November.
Congressional skeptics have criticized the TSA's hiring and spending practices during its short existence. Republicans say the agency has grown far larger than they envisioned when it was created following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Ervin also is investigating why the agency's private recruiters worked out of lush resort hotels with golf courses, pools and spas.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said that he had not seen the full report but that it indicated "a colossal waste of money."
"There's something terribly wrong with that agency," Dorgan said. "Of all the agencies, that's the one that's supposed to be working full-time against terrorist attacks."
The awards banquet, which cost $461,745, was held at the Grand Hyatt, which bills itself as "one of the most magnificent" hotels in the nation's capital. According to the report, the agency chose that site because it was the only hotel available on Nov. 19, 2003, the agency's second anniversary. It also was one of the few places that could accommodate about 600 honorees and as many guests.
While the inspector general noted the agency sought competitive bids for the party planner and chose the company with the lowest estimate, it found the "costs of the ceremony and reception were higher than necessary."
The event planning company, MarCom Group Inc. of Fairfax, Va., was paid $85,552 for its work and given an additional $81,767 for plaques, $5,196 for official photographs, $1,486 for three balloon arches and $1,509 for signs.
The reception included finger food, coffee and cake that averaged $33 per person. Seven cakes cost a total of $1,850; three cheese displays, $1,500.
In a written response, the TSA said the costs "were neither extraordinary nor incurred without careful consideration of the amount, the reasonableness of the cost, and value the activities would have to the employees."
The inspector general also expressed concern that the TSA was more generous than most other federal agencies in awarding bonuses to executives. Federal agencies on average gave cash awards to 49 percent of their executives in 2002, while 76 percent of TSA executives received them in 2003.
The inspector general reviewed 88 employees' files and found that 38 percent "had no individual recommendation and justification for the performance award."
"The legitimacy of such large awards is called into question by the lack of an appropriate selection process and the reliance on boilerplate justifications that could be applicable to anyone," the report said.
The report also noted that fewer than 3 percent of nonexecutive employees received bonuses in 2003.
In its response, the TSA said that executives who got a bonus didn't get a pay increase and weren't eligible for a presidential awards program that can amount to as much as 35 percent of their base pay. The agency agreed, however, that more could be done to equalize treatment of top executives and lower-level employees.
I wonder how much bomb sniffing technology $500K will buy?
AP: Report Finds Lavish Spending at TSA
By LESLIE MILLER Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a "lifetime achievement award" for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.
The investigation by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, also found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency, and failed to provide adequate justification in more than a third of the 88 cases examined.
The report said lower-level employees were shortchanged, with a far lower percentage receiving bonuses.
"A substantial inequity exists in TSA's performance recognition program between executive and non-executive employees," the report said.
TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said the agency believes the bonuses and party were justified "given the hours and productivity of the work force during this critical period."
This year, said von Walter, the TSA will conduct awards ceremonies at individual airports, as well as a much smaller and less expensive event at its headquarters in November.
Congressional skeptics have criticized the TSA's hiring and spending practices during its short existence. Republicans say the agency has grown far larger than they envisioned when it was created following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Ervin also is investigating why the agency's private recruiters worked out of lush resort hotels with golf courses, pools and spas.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said that he had not seen the full report but that it indicated "a colossal waste of money."
"There's something terribly wrong with that agency," Dorgan said. "Of all the agencies, that's the one that's supposed to be working full-time against terrorist attacks."
The awards banquet, which cost $461,745, was held at the Grand Hyatt, which bills itself as "one of the most magnificent" hotels in the nation's capital. According to the report, the agency chose that site because it was the only hotel available on Nov. 19, 2003, the agency's second anniversary. It also was one of the few places that could accommodate about 600 honorees and as many guests.
While the inspector general noted the agency sought competitive bids for the party planner and chose the company with the lowest estimate, it found the "costs of the ceremony and reception were higher than necessary."
The event planning company, MarCom Group Inc. of Fairfax, Va., was paid $85,552 for its work and given an additional $81,767 for plaques, $5,196 for official photographs, $1,486 for three balloon arches and $1,509 for signs.
The reception included finger food, coffee and cake that averaged $33 per person. Seven cakes cost a total of $1,850; three cheese displays, $1,500.
In a written response, the TSA said the costs "were neither extraordinary nor incurred without careful consideration of the amount, the reasonableness of the cost, and value the activities would have to the employees."
The inspector general also expressed concern that the TSA was more generous than most other federal agencies in awarding bonuses to executives. Federal agencies on average gave cash awards to 49 percent of their executives in 2002, while 76 percent of TSA executives received them in 2003.
The inspector general reviewed 88 employees' files and found that 38 percent "had no individual recommendation and justification for the performance award."
"The legitimacy of such large awards is called into question by the lack of an appropriate selection process and the reliance on boilerplate justifications that could be applicable to anyone," the report said.
The report also noted that fewer than 3 percent of nonexecutive employees received bonuses in 2003.
In its response, the TSA said that executives who got a bonus didn't get a pay increase and weren't eligible for a presidential awards program that can amount to as much as 35 percent of their base pay. The agency agreed, however, that more could be done to equalize treatment of top executives and lower-level employees.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Shameful
The Bush Propaganda Machine is at it again.
prop·a·gan·da ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pr p -g n d )n.
The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda.
prop·a·gan·da ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pr p -g n d )n.
The systematic propagation of a doctrine or cause or of information reflecting the views and interests of those advocating such a doctrine or cause.
Material disseminated by the advocates or opponents of a doctrine or cause: wartime propaganda.
Thursday, October 07, 2004
Do NASCAR track owners need a break? NASCAR is the most lucrative sporting industry in America (maybe the world). GE? They need some help? Please.
I also understand that Starbucks is getting a tax break, which pisses me off since the price of my drink went up 20 cents on Wednesday (Which caused me to realize that I can eat LUNCH at Taco Bell...and who doesn't love some Taco Bell...for the same price as my coffee).
The tobacco one baffles me. Didn’t various governments in the US spend millions suing them and don’t they pay the states and the Feds money, so does that mean we (citizens) are funding their penalties?
Anyway, here's the link
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3281840/c_3281847?f=home_todayinfinance
The 633-page bill features 276 separate provisions, reported the Washington Post, including tax breaks for Alaskan whalers, NASCAR track owners, importers of Chinese ceiling fans, and gamblers from overseas. Other provisions, according to the Associated Press, would reduce excise taxes on the sale of bows and arrows, fishing-tackle boxes, and sonar fish finders.
General Electric Co. would receive hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from a 10-year, $7.9 billion provision that would simplify how U.S. taxes are calculated on overseas profits, the Post pointed out. A related provision would grant companies with substantial overseas earnings a temporary tax holiday, during which they could bring those profits home at a discounted tax rate of 5.25 percent.
The most controversial tax break approved by the conference committee is likely the $10.1 billion in payments to tobacco farmers, related to a quota system that governs how much tobacco can be grown each year, noted the AP. The preliminary plan omits a Senate proposal that would link the tobacco buyout to regulation of the industry by the Food and Drug Administration. "What the conferees have done is remove the lynchpin in the passage of this legislation in a complete sellout to the tobacco companies," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), according to the wire service.
I also understand that Starbucks is getting a tax break, which pisses me off since the price of my drink went up 20 cents on Wednesday (Which caused me to realize that I can eat LUNCH at Taco Bell...and who doesn't love some Taco Bell...for the same price as my coffee).
The tobacco one baffles me. Didn’t various governments in the US spend millions suing them and don’t they pay the states and the Feds money, so does that mean we (citizens) are funding their penalties?
Anyway, here's the link
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3281840/c_3281847?f=home_todayinfinance
The 633-page bill features 276 separate provisions, reported the Washington Post, including tax breaks for Alaskan whalers, NASCAR track owners, importers of Chinese ceiling fans, and gamblers from overseas. Other provisions, according to the Associated Press, would reduce excise taxes on the sale of bows and arrows, fishing-tackle boxes, and sonar fish finders.
General Electric Co. would receive hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits from a 10-year, $7.9 billion provision that would simplify how U.S. taxes are calculated on overseas profits, the Post pointed out. A related provision would grant companies with substantial overseas earnings a temporary tax holiday, during which they could bring those profits home at a discounted tax rate of 5.25 percent.
The most controversial tax break approved by the conference committee is likely the $10.1 billion in payments to tobacco farmers, related to a quota system that governs how much tobacco can be grown each year, noted the AP. The preliminary plan omits a Senate proposal that would link the tobacco buyout to regulation of the industry by the Food and Drug Administration. "What the conferees have done is remove the lynchpin in the passage of this legislation in a complete sellout to the tobacco companies," said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), according to the wire service.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
My letter to Nightline
I find it shameful that ABC NEWS and Nightline continue to accept the GOP distortions about the "Global Test" comments, and allow them to go unchallenged by even your own correspondents. When in fact, Kerry said exactly the opposite. Once again, THe Daily Show proves to be a better journalistic outlet than Nightline. Are you so fearful of what the GOP did to Dan Rather that you will let a blatant lie/mischaracterization of the statements of Senator Kerry that you will not challenge them.
YOu have a responsibility to America, it's time you lived up to it
YOu have a responsibility to America, it's time you lived up to it
It's not the flip flop that's appalling
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6185393/site/newsweek/
Bush supports torture, but the next day he doesn't...does he get points for that flip flop or should we all be appalled that he supports tortue on some days at all.
Bush supports torture, but the next day he doesn't...does he get points for that flip flop or should we all be appalled that he supports tortue on some days at all.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Another former Bushie criticizes the administration
Why does Paul Bremer hate Freedom (America, etc)?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6180514/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6180514/
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