Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tough shit
"Tough shit" is what Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Kentucky said to Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, as Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, criticized Bunning's stance on the package.
The Senate adjourned Friday without approving extensions of cash and health insurance benefits for the unemployed after this lone senator blocked swift passage due to his insistence that Congress first pay for the $10 billion package. Bunning said he doesn't oppose extending the programs -- he just doesn't want to add to the deficit.
Bunning is a bona fide "Party of No" cardholder.... a quick look at his voting record (Project Vote Smart), shows he has the classic "Go F__k yourself" attitude.
He voted NO on the following items:
Housing foreclosure assistance programs
GI Bill
SCHIP- Children's health care programs
Farm Security & Rural investment act
Labor, Health & Human services & Education appropriations
Cut funding for new F-22 aircraft
Timeline for withdrawal from Iraq
Iraq Troop reduction
Time between Troop redeployments
Stem Cell Research
Campaign finance reform
Alternative energy tax incentives
Family/Medical leave (FMLA)
Gay Marriage
Lily Ledbetter Pay Act (Equal pay)
Habeas Corpus rights for Detainees
He voted YES on the following items:
Iraq & Afghanistan war funding
Welfare reform
Defense authorizations
Iraq War
Prohibiting funds for groups that perform abortions
Bunning is a neanderthal who votes NO for anything good, and votes YES for all the negative.
He would deny funding those on the brink of foreclosure, and who are jobless without healthcare, and need COBRA payment assistance- all the while funding war.
In a great editorial in my local newspaper today, members of WAND ask these questions:
• Why freeze funds for domestic needs when people are suffering from high unemployment & huge medical costs?
• Why does the Pentagon need 1,000 bases overseas at an annual cost of $250 billion?
(There is the $10 billion needed for unemployment, sir!)
• Why maintain & upgrade 10,800 nuclear weapons while we chastise & threaten other countries for developing them?
The editorial continues....
"Larry Korb, former assistant secretary of defense under Ronald Reagan, has identified $60 billion in the Pentagon budget that could be eliminated just by discontinuing production & maintenance of outdated Cold War weaponry. Retired Army Col. Andrew Bacevich has suggested cutting U.S. military spending to that of the next 10 highest spending countries combined, a 31% reduction. "
The next time some party of no says there is no funding for domestic programs, ask them just how much they voted YES for in the military budget. It's no secret we are billions short of funding the needs of our country-- military spending takes a 55% bite out of our budget.
Pay attention, old man
I must say, I do like Obama's one liners.
Not surprisingly, the GOP's lockstep theme of the day was "scrap the plan" "start over".... one GOPper even offered a blank piece of paper.
That is the most frustrating aspect of the party of no-- they are great with obstructionist tactics, but when you get down to it,
they have nothing to offer. After all these months, they have nothing.
Let's face it- if we wait for the GOP to be onboard, Health Care reform will NEVER happen.
Reconciliation full steam ahead!
Oh! And about that evil Socialism element, Durbin has a solution
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Whale of a problem
Exhibit A:
Seriously-- who could blame the Killer Whales for wanting to toss one of these jumping, & clapping like a seal, staffers?
Killer Whales are wild ocean living mammals who are highly sensitive & intelligent, mammals with highly sensitive hearing & sonar.
I hope Tillicum the Whale is retired from the circus performing business, and allowed to live in a more
natural setting.
Watch this clip-- I don't think it's an accident!
Here is a link to an excellent article:
bearing it....
I feel like this bear on it's back, (only w foot propped up on a pillow!)
Very hard to be productive in this position.
A big one finger salute to Blue Cross/BS for telling me they have a new program where I am supposed to print up my own forms to submit for reimbursement of pre tax medical expenses.
Oh hell no! I will not be paying to print up forms.
" The insurer paid 39 senior executives $1 million each in 2008 and spent $27 million on 103 executive retreats in 2007 and 2008." Not only did I not go on any corporate retreats, I was on a 2 year pay freeze. Furthermore, Florida BC/BS experienced a $550 million dollar profit in 2008.
Print your own damned forms!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
literally laid up...
The after hours Doctor said it is Stasis Dermatitis. He put me on a huge dose of Cipro antibiotic & said I must MUST remain flat on my back, with the lower leg propped up higher than my heart. That gets old fast. I could do that while on the couch & watch the Olympics- caught the Women's ariel wipe out event yesterday. It is supposed to be in the 50's again in the Pacific NW, so they have some pretty sloppy, funky snow to deal with. Anyway, the laptop on the belly in this leg up position is strange, so I am going light on the blogging.
"Tawk amongst yourselves.... I'll give you a topic... the meaning of life.... discuss"
SNL fans will understand!
Friday, February 19, 2010
The Grinch Memo
Just when I thought it could not get worse.... we get this memo today, saying "although the office will be closed on Christmas & New Year's days, they will not be considered holidays."Meaning no holiday pay.
We've been Grinched!!!
No! Read the next post-- we've been DOUBLE GRINCHED.
How low can morale go????
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
take this job & shove it
After a two year pay freeze, the corporation finally gave us a pay raise.
.19 cents an hour.
During this time, the company spent over 3 BILLION in new developments & acquisitions.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Canada Oh Canada!
Wow! Did you catch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics?
I loved the Whale segment & the Riverdance/stomp presentation.
Hope it continues to be a great festival of extreme sports, and International goodwill.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Farewell old friend...
Never thought this day would arrive. My Mom's house has finally sold. It took almost 2 years to sell it, awash in a sea of foreclosed homes. It is a place we moved to when I was 5 years old. My Mom still lived there till a few years ago when too many health issues landed her in a care facility- not her own choice, but a necessary one none the less. The place is full of memories for me. When we first moved there the lot next door was an empty, grassy field, except for a garage. Our own back yard had a hand made stone bbq, and a wishing well- full sized w 2 wooden pillars and a conical roof. Over the years the wood rotted, so the roof & pillars had to go, but the stone base of the well remained-- Mom wound up using it as a giant planter. As a kid I remembered planting flowers in the yard, and when we first moved there, we saw a few wild rabbits running around in the yard. It seemed huge to me as a kid... a vast expanse of space to play & run around in. One magical winter, we had a big snowfall, a flash warm spell and then a hard freeze. Without doing a thing ourselves-- Mother Nature had created our own personal ice skating rink right in my own back yard. Of course I put on my ice skates & enjoyed the gift.
Usually, when they knew it would freeze, the local park would run a hose in the baseball field to create an ice skating place. There we could do a thing we called crack the whip.... get a chain of people holding hands & build up speed.... the end skater getting a rather wild ride.
No triple Lutz action for me... if I could just skate around & not fall, I was triumphant!
Besides it was freezing cold out there (thus the ice), so you had to bundle up, so you could stay out in it longer. Still, being able to skate in the yard was a thrill.
I remember making hop skotch boards w chalk, in the summers, and skateboards were the latest greatest thing.
Nothing like the fancy stuff they have now w shock absorbers & such. Ours were crude wooden boards with the traditional metal skate wheels on them. We would whiz back & forth on the smooth paved sidewalk in the yard. We had a pyramid staircase entrance on the side of the house, so we would go full speed ahead, to get a resounding crash into the lowest cement stair.
Oh yea, that empty lot next door was purchased & someone built a 2 story apartment there.
I remember us having our skateboarding fun, when the new neighbor opened her 2nd story window to yell as us kids to be quiet.
My Mom yelled back- We bought this house so our kids can have a yard to play in!
We'd just moved out of a 2 story apartment that her Mother had owned & lived in below us & called all the shots on.
She was free at last & not going to take it anymore. Right on Mom!
We were there first, and the new neighbor knew kids lived in the house where she chose to move in to.
Kids need to play & they sometimes make noise in the daytime, get over it!
I used to make candles in the basement. We had a home made ping pong table, and used to play no rules ping pong. My Sister & I used to go into the medicine cabinet & be mad scientists... mixing different stuff to see how it would chemically react. In my teen rebellion years, I moved up to the partially finished (but not insulated) attic. I painted it a pale yellow.
It was hot in the summer, and cold in the winter- but it was my own space. Back in the day, there was a huge crab apple tree right outside the back window.... it had beautiful blossoms on it in the spring.
Time marched on, and eventually, many of the single family, single car homes, became multiple family, multiple vehicle homes. Parking was a nightmare. Mom had a garage built.
By now, the yard was not looking so big to me, but the garage ate up most of the yard. Sentimental one, my Mom had the builder take the backhoe & move the wishing well to the corner of the grass closest to the house. The last few times I visited the house, I planted flowers in that wishing well.
As much as the garage was now a necessity, it was unattached from the house, so it was kind of a security risk. It was good Mom no longer had to scrape ice & snow off the car, or worry about the car being vandalized.... but not an optimal scenario. The neighborhood was changing.
In fact the time before last that I did visit, the neighbors had hung up their laundry on the chain link fence. (What.. too much to invest in a clothes line?) The next door neighbors had torn out the extensive flower gardens the neighbor used to have in their yard, and paved it over to park several cars in the yard. Apparently they had large gatherings with lots of Corona beer, because Mom's rose beds were full of beer bottle caps. Oh & the loud spanish music- right outside the back bedroom window. Yes, things had really changed.
Mom's flowers are still blooming, all these years later. The wishing well still holds flowers & well wishes. But the yard and those childhood memories will never be the same. You can visit on old place, but not bring it back. I hope the house has new breath of life. I hope the new owners plant flowers in the wishing well, and that someone discovers the sheer joy and peace of sitting on the front room radiator cover on a cold winter night, in the dark & quiet, watching the beautiful snow fall under the light of the lamp post. Farewell old friend...
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
If he only had a brain
WaPO reports this gem:
"If Obama doesn’t scrap the existing health-care reform bills, leading House Republicans have said they won't participate in the president's upcoming, televised health-care summit. In a letter to Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader John A. Boehner and Minority Whip Eric Cantor expressed frustration at reports that Obama intends to put the Democratic bills on the table for discussion at the Feb. 25 summit. "If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate," Boehner and Cantor wrote. "'Bipartisanship' is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded by saying that Obama has sought Republican input since early last year, and the president remains interested in hearing ideas that the GOP believe will advance the cause of health-care reform. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Obama is "absolutely not" scrapping the bills."
The GOP is not even going to pretend like they are coming to the table to discuss health care reform.
How pathetic is that? This stalemate helps no one. The GOP says scrap the plan, not only do they bring nothing to the table to propose, now they are threatening to not even come to the table.
How about this-- If Bonehead & CAN'Tor are unwilling to discuss health care refom, bring in Dr. Flowers to discuss her ideas about public option as a physician representing 17,000 Doctors who have a plan (and a clue!). She's been begging to have the public option be a part of the discussion, and has a comprehensive plan proposal.
(Scroll down to read "The Doctor is in.... jail" to read her letter to Obama.)
Monday, February 8, 2010
Favorite Superbowl ads
Usually mute all commercials.... but the
superbowl is a superbowl of creative ads. Here are my favorites:
Oooh ! A cameo w Spider pig on the swing.
Oooh la la-- very cute.
The Government spent $2.5 million on this spot....
Worth it?
Your thoughts on this one? I thought this might have been one of the worst.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
16 banks have failed in 2010...so far
Here is the list of the 16 Banks that failed in 2010, & the FDIC took over:
Reuters reports:
Although they tell us the FDIC fully insures bank accounts. The standard insurance amount currently is $250,000 per depositor.
Bank Name | City | State | CERT # | Closing Date | Updated Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st American State Bank of Minnesota | Hancock | MN | 15448 | February 5, 2010 | February 5, 2010 |
| American Marine Bank | Bainbridge Island | WA | 16730 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| First Regional Bank | Los Angeles | CA | 23011 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| Community Bank and Trust | Cornelia | GA | 5702 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| Marshall Bank, N.A. | Hallock | MN | 16133 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| Florida Community Bank | Immokalee | FL | 5672 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| First National Bank of Georgia | Carrollton | GA | 16480 | January 29, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| Columbia River Bank | The Dalles | OR | 22469 | January 22, 2010 | February 2, 2010 |
| Evergreen Bank | Seattle | WA | 20501 | January 22, 2010 | February 2, 2010 |
| Charter Bank | Santa Fe | NM | 32498 | January 22, 2010 | February 2, 2010 |
| Bank of Leeton | Leeton | MO | 8265 | January 22, 2010 | February 2, 2010 |
| Premier American Bank | Miami | FL | 57147 | January 22, 2010 | February 2, 2010 |
| Barnes Banking Company | Kaysville | UT | 1252 | January 15, 2010 | February 3, 2010 |
| St. Stephen State Bank | St. Stephen | MN | 17522 | January 15, 2010 | January 26, 2010 |
| Town Community Bank & Trust | Antioch | IL | 34705 | January 15, 2010 | January 26, 2010 |
| Horizon Bank | Bellingham | WA | 22977 | January 8, 2010 | January 12, 2010 |
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Reuters reports:
FDIC’s problem bank list grows to 552, DIF now negative
FDIC published its quarterly banking profile today. Here are the latest banking industrystatistics at a glance. A few interesting takeaways I’d like to highlight. First, the problem bank list grew again. And it still understates total problem assets…both Citi and Bank of America should also be on this list.
The number of institutions on the FDIC’s “Problem List” rose to its highest level in 16 years. At the end of September, there were 552 insured institutions on the “Problem List,” up from 416 on June 30. This is the largest number of “problem” institutions since December 31, 1993, when there were 575 institutions on the list. Total assets of “problem” institutions increased during the quarter from $299.8 billion to $345.9 billion, the highest level since the end of 1993, when they totaled $346.2 billion. Fifty institutions failed during the third quarter, bringing the total number of failures in the first nine months of 2009 to 95.
Also, what will get lots of headlines today is that the Deposit Insurance Fund went negative as of September 30th. We already knew this to be true, and it’s not totally fair to report the negative balance without noting that FDIC does have cash. That said, the DIF is still in a very precarious position.
As projected in September, the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) balance – or the net worth of the fund – fell below zero for the first time since the third quarter of 1992. The fund balance of negative $8.2 billion as of September already reflects a $38.9 billion contingent loss reserve that has been set aside to cover estimated losses over the next year. Just as banks reserve for loan losses, the FDIC has to set aside reserves for anticipated closings over the next year. Combining the fund balance with this contingent loss reserve shows total DIF reserves with a positive balance of $30.7 billion.
Chairman Bair distinguished the DIF’s reserves from the FDIC’s cash resources, which stood at $23.3 billion of cash and marketable securities.To further bolster the DIF’s cash position, the FDIC Board approved a measure on November 12th to require insured institutions to prepay three years worth of deposit insurance premiums – about $45 billion – at the end of 2009. “This measure will provide the FDIC with the funds needed to carry on with the task of resolving failed institutions in 2010, but without accelerating the impact of assessments on the industry’s earnings and capital,” Chairman Bair said.
The DIF will continue to be negative after FDIC gets the additional $45 billion at the end of 2009. That’s not a “special assessment,” it’s the next three years’ regular assessments being collected up front. The distinction is crucial. Because it’s a regular assessment, FDIC won’t count it as new reserves for the DIF. Instead it will be counted as deferred revenue on the DIF’s balance sheet.
Why is that important? Because unlike the $5.6 billion special assessment in Q2, banks don’t have to take a hit against their capital all at once for this assessment. They get to treat it as a prepaid expense.
Although they tell us the FDIC fully insures bank accounts. The standard insurance amount currently is $250,000 per depositor.
All well & good, but at this rate & at some point the FDIC insurance $ well will run dry.
Maybe the mattress industry would do well to invent a fireproof safe/vault built into mattresses to avoid losing it all in failed banks that eventually result in a failed FDIC?
Potential names for this new mattress style:
Safe Sleep
$weet Dream$
The "Bank on It"
The Bailout
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