News items of interest:
1) Texas lawmakers urge Gov. Perry to run. Well, duh! They want Perry to run for the same reason some Arkansans wanted Bill Clinton to run … to get him out of the state.
2) What was NBC thinking? The network omitted the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance during its coverage of the U.S. Open. Even thought the two words were not in the original Pledge, the phrase was added almost 60 years ago. The network issued a formal apology and should be forgiven for its gaffe. Well, okay, boycott NBC for a couple of weeks if it’ll make you feel better.
3) Tiger Woods did not compete in the U.S. Open. Tiger … who?
4) Some states are trying to collect taxes from Internet sales. Only about 15 years later than they should have. Hard for local merchants to compete with a no-tax competitor.
5) Doug Hutchinson, a character actor who was in “The Green Mile” and other movies married a 16-year-old aspiring country-western singer. Hutchinson is 51. “True love can be ageless,” the actor said. True. So-called true love can also be stupid.
6) Portland, Oregon flushed eight million gallons of drinking water because a man was caught on camera urinating in one of its reservoirs. That decision was made in spite of the fact urine is a sterile substance and that a bladder full of urine in eight million gallons would be so diluted as to do … nothing!
In addition to the lost water, it costs the city $8,000 in sewage fees. Gosh, think about what fish do in water. And raccoons … oh, heck, just give me a glass of tea, no, wait, coffee … uh huh. Aw, make it milk!
7) An Internet dating site dumped 30,000 people because they were ugly. Well, it’s about time!
8) A New York sun worshiper landed in the hospital with third-degree burns after the underwire in the top of her two-piece bathing suit became superheated. As my aunt stated one time: Turn around is about play. Some men get superheated just seeing women in two-piece bathing suits.
9) A 21-year-old man set up a rendezvous via smartphone texting with a 12-year-old girl and went to meet her … in his buggy. The man, a member of the Amish sect, have varying degrees of latitude for modern conveniences and can, apparently, use cell phones for work. The young man had more than 600 texting messages with the girl so, presumably, that is a lot of work. Amish sexter? That’s a moronic oxymoron if there ever was one!
10) Texas lawmakers – with the placid backing of Gov. Rick Perry – are going to take up the “no groping” bill by airport security. Stupidity does, indeed, go directly to the bone. The feds have control of airport security – not Perry, not the leggies. So, you can expect the feds to threaten again to cancel any and all flights into and out of Texas if this piece of clap-trap legislation passes. Threaten? Yes! Follow through this time if necessary? Absolutely! Look for Perry to pontificate this bill for his own political purposes. How sad.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Political lowku
GOPers
vying for
prime political positions,
posturing as prideful pundits
do when pretending to preach
their powerful positions from
pontification pulpits. Public
prays for
peace.
vying for
prime political positions,
posturing as prideful pundits
do when pretending to preach
their powerful positions from
pontification pulpits. Public
prays for
peace.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Sick days and vacation days
It’s a personal choice, really, this being proud of not missing work because of illness.
In the past five-plus years, I have missed work due to accident, illness, or Mondayitis exactly eight times. I have accrued more than 50 days in sick time, time which I probably will never use and most certainly will never be paid for the unused time.
The company for which I work does not pay for unused sick time. I understand company policies, rules, regulations, esoteric whims and human resource mandates.
What I don’t understand is why employees don’t take sick time when they’re sick and why, if employees don’t take sick time, companies don’t pay them for unused days? (Looking in the mirror and asking myself that question.)
It is estimated that billions of dollars remains in company coffers because workers don’t take allotted sick time, or companies don’t pay for unused time. Billions.
Same holds true for vacation days. It is estimated that Americans did not take vacation time in 2010 that valued at more than $60 billion. In this case, however, the vast majority of companies carry over the unused days or offer a buy-out for the leisure time spent on the job.
The policy differential seems a bit skewed … a worker earns vacation, does not take it and gets it accrued or gets paid the for unused days. The same worker earns X number of sick days a year, does not take them and ends up with … a bunch of sick days sitting on the corporate books.
Sounds like a congressional hearing topic from this angle.
Also sounds like some workers need to wise up and stay home when they are ill.(Looking in that mirror again.)
As a footnote: The average American worker got 18 days of vacation last year and took 14 days off. Workers in Great Britain received 28 days and took 25. French workers got 37 vacation days and took an average of 35.
Federal workers in the U.S. get more holidays than most companies care to give.
Fairness. Will it ever be in style?
In the past five-plus years, I have missed work due to accident, illness, or Mondayitis exactly eight times. I have accrued more than 50 days in sick time, time which I probably will never use and most certainly will never be paid for the unused time.
The company for which I work does not pay for unused sick time. I understand company policies, rules, regulations, esoteric whims and human resource mandates.
What I don’t understand is why employees don’t take sick time when they’re sick and why, if employees don’t take sick time, companies don’t pay them for unused days? (Looking in the mirror and asking myself that question.)
It is estimated that billions of dollars remains in company coffers because workers don’t take allotted sick time, or companies don’t pay for unused time. Billions.
Same holds true for vacation days. It is estimated that Americans did not take vacation time in 2010 that valued at more than $60 billion. In this case, however, the vast majority of companies carry over the unused days or offer a buy-out for the leisure time spent on the job.
The policy differential seems a bit skewed … a worker earns vacation, does not take it and gets it accrued or gets paid the for unused days. The same worker earns X number of sick days a year, does not take them and ends up with … a bunch of sick days sitting on the corporate books.
Sounds like a congressional hearing topic from this angle.
Also sounds like some workers need to wise up and stay home when they are ill.(Looking in that mirror again.)
As a footnote: The average American worker got 18 days of vacation last year and took 14 days off. Workers in Great Britain received 28 days and took 25. French workers got 37 vacation days and took an average of 35.
Federal workers in the U.S. get more holidays than most companies care to give.
Fairness. Will it ever be in style?
Hating hypocrites… and feeling good about it
If you are sick and tired of listening to congressmen pontificate about cutting the federal deficit, think … hypocrites.
Late last year, as the federal budget was floundering and the deficit was rising, members of Congress from both parties were giving bonuses to staff members.
House member gave more than $21.5 million more on their office payrolls for the last quarter of 2010 than they spent on average for the fourth quarter for the last three years.
Wait, it gets worse.
Defeated and retiring lawmakers paid an average bonus of about $4,000 to staff members. Returning lawmakers paid an average $2,300, according to LegiStorm, a Washington-on-the-Deficit watchdog group that tracks congressional pay.
The money came out of the average $1.5 million allocated to each office for expenses including salaries, travel and bottled water purchases — money that, if unspent at the end of the year, goes back to the Treasury, thus helping reduce the deficit
Topping the list was … want to hazard a guess which party, GOPer or Demogogue?
Chances are you guessed wrong. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) paid out more than $200,000 in bonuses. Rep. Doris Matsui of California paid her staff an average bonus of just under $9,000 and said “these are young people who are working very hard ta very moderate pay.”
The average staff members earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.
All together now: Elected officials just don’t get it.
Late last year, as the federal budget was floundering and the deficit was rising, members of Congress from both parties were giving bonuses to staff members.
House member gave more than $21.5 million more on their office payrolls for the last quarter of 2010 than they spent on average for the fourth quarter for the last three years.
Wait, it gets worse.
Defeated and retiring lawmakers paid an average bonus of about $4,000 to staff members. Returning lawmakers paid an average $2,300, according to LegiStorm, a Washington-on-the-Deficit watchdog group that tracks congressional pay.
The money came out of the average $1.5 million allocated to each office for expenses including salaries, travel and bottled water purchases — money that, if unspent at the end of the year, goes back to the Treasury, thus helping reduce the deficit
Topping the list was … want to hazard a guess which party, GOPer or Demogogue?
Chances are you guessed wrong. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) paid out more than $200,000 in bonuses. Rep. Doris Matsui of California paid her staff an average bonus of just under $9,000 and said “these are young people who are working very hard ta very moderate pay.”
The average staff members earn between $30,000 and $60,000 a year.
All together now: Elected officials just don’t get it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Time and time again …
It’s June 2011.
And here we are all a-twitter about who the heck is going to run in the presidential primary elections in 2012.
Is this what we have come to? Would-be king- and queenmakers running for an office years before the election, like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have done?
As the state holding the first primary next February, Iowa is already attracting attention. Chris Christie was there recently, meeting with potential backers and turning up the conservative heat factor. Who’s Chris Christie? Exactly.
For the record, he’s the governor of New Jersey. To make a blanket statement with no semblance of reality: Finding an honest politician in New Jersey is like finding a virgin working a shift in a New Orleans strip joint.
Christie made some points early with ultra-fiscal conservatives by erasing a huge state deficit but the accolades may have been premature. The state Supreme Court has ordered him to spend more money on education and the state’s credit rating has been downgraded.
Lesson 101 for conservatives: Some things you cut, other things you don’t.
Other pols who have already tromped through Iowa or are planning to shortly include Romney, Palin, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, John Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain.
Don’t worry if you don't know half of those names. Don’t bother looking them up. You’ll just be wasting your time.
A statement to remember: If this is the best the Republicans can do, Obama is a shoo-in for re-election.
Cutting the budget
Cutting the federal budget should not be a big deal … if we could get the politics out of the process.
Step 1: Order all federal agencies (Education is the only exception) to cut 10-15 percent of their budgets within 30 days with orders to cut from the top down, and, initially, without cutting services to citizens.
Step 2: Put every federal official on the exact retirement plan that covers everyday Americans.
Step 3: Declare one-year moratorium on foreign aid. No exceptions.
Step 4: Pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq by year-end. No dilly-dallying.
Step 5: Form an independent commission of large and small businesspeople to go through federal budget with an eye on cutting all duplicate services and errant programs, as well as surplus people, equipment and other assets.
Step 6: Declare a two-year moratorium on major projects that only affect a small area – city, county, state. If the people of Florida want a high-speed train, then let the people of Florida fund it.
Step 7: Run government like a business. If you don’t have the money, don’t spend it.
Step 8: Have quarterly reviews of Steps 1-7 and adjust as needed.
Folks, we’re smarter than this. And, it’s time to start acting like it.
And here we are all a-twitter about who the heck is going to run in the presidential primary elections in 2012.
Is this what we have come to? Would-be king- and queenmakers running for an office years before the election, like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have done?
As the state holding the first primary next February, Iowa is already attracting attention. Chris Christie was there recently, meeting with potential backers and turning up the conservative heat factor. Who’s Chris Christie? Exactly.
For the record, he’s the governor of New Jersey. To make a blanket statement with no semblance of reality: Finding an honest politician in New Jersey is like finding a virgin working a shift in a New Orleans strip joint.
Christie made some points early with ultra-fiscal conservatives by erasing a huge state deficit but the accolades may have been premature. The state Supreme Court has ordered him to spend more money on education and the state’s credit rating has been downgraded.
Lesson 101 for conservatives: Some things you cut, other things you don’t.
Other pols who have already tromped through Iowa or are planning to shortly include Romney, Palin, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, John Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Michelle Bachmann and Herman Cain.
Don’t worry if you don't know half of those names. Don’t bother looking them up. You’ll just be wasting your time.
A statement to remember: If this is the best the Republicans can do, Obama is a shoo-in for re-election.
Cutting the budget
Cutting the federal budget should not be a big deal … if we could get the politics out of the process.
Step 1: Order all federal agencies (Education is the only exception) to cut 10-15 percent of their budgets within 30 days with orders to cut from the top down, and, initially, without cutting services to citizens.
Step 2: Put every federal official on the exact retirement plan that covers everyday Americans.
Step 3: Declare one-year moratorium on foreign aid. No exceptions.
Step 4: Pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq by year-end. No dilly-dallying.
Step 5: Form an independent commission of large and small businesspeople to go through federal budget with an eye on cutting all duplicate services and errant programs, as well as surplus people, equipment and other assets.
Step 6: Declare a two-year moratorium on major projects that only affect a small area – city, county, state. If the people of Florida want a high-speed train, then let the people of Florida fund it.
Step 7: Run government like a business. If you don’t have the money, don’t spend it.
Step 8: Have quarterly reviews of Steps 1-7 and adjust as needed.
Folks, we’re smarter than this. And, it’s time to start acting like it.
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