Monday, November 23, 2009

Obama Calls For Math, Science Push -- Education -- InformationWeek

Obama Calls For Math, Science Push -- Education -- InformationWeek



Former NASA astronaut Sally Ride and Intel chairman Craig Barrett have signed on to recruit private sector leaders to advocate science and math education, scale out innovative science and math education efforts, and raise public awareness of the importance of science and math education.

As part of the five partnership efforts:

Discovery Communications, in partnership with research universities and federal agencies, will spend $150 million over five years on new educational content as part of its "Be The Future" campaign.
Time Warner Cable, FIRST Robotics, and the Coalition for Science After School will link up students with opportunities that exist in their areas
PNC Bank and Sesame Street which will invest money in math and science for young children and create 20 Sesame Street episodes focused on math and science in its Early Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Literacy Initiative
A number of non-profits will fund a nationwide science play day, upgrade science labs and create communities of science and math teachers on "National Lab Day"
Sony, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Entertainment Software Association will award children and adults who create innovative science and math games with their National STEM Game Design Competitions

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Something else to complain about, even thought they don't use it.


Government wants to oversee safety for subways, light rail


The Obama administration plans to propose that the U.S. government oversee safety for subway and light rail systems, a move prompted in part by the deadly collision of two trains in Washington this year.

According to a draft of the plan to be formally unveiled in coming weeks, the Transportation Department would either enforce safety regulations itself or grant states the option to do so under its guidance and financial assistance.

No cost estimate was provided and Congress would have to approve the proposal.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Conservative media frequently accuse progressives of "raping" Americans

Conservative media frequently accuse progressives of "raping" Americans








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Black Helicopters

Black Helicopters??

Famous ideas based on the Black Helicopter theory:

COW FART TAX

FAIRNESS DOCTRINE

CAR MILEAGE TAX

GUN BAN

AMMO TAX

TAX CUTS CREATE JOBS (2002 - 2008)

VOODOO ECONOMICS

FEDERAL INCOME TAXES HAVE BEEN RAISED ON YOU

GOVERNMENT DOESN'T CREATE JOBS (VIRGINIA BEACH unemp. rate  6.7%; JOBS AT GENERAL DYNAMICS AND CACI, HARRIS CORP.)

SUGAR TAX

SOCIALIST WANT TO TAKE OVER THE COUNTRY, CIRCA 1930/ 40/ 60/ 2009 (same message, different Americans to fool, examples 1, 2, 3 )

Monday, November 16, 2009

More Americans face the specter of hunger

More Americans face the specter of hunger


A jump in the number of Americans facing the prospect of going hungry. Last year the number of households uncertain of having or unable to afford enough food ballooned 31% to more than 17 million, up from 13 million in 2007, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday. About 14.6% of households fit the USDA’s definition of “food insecure” at some point in 2008 compared with 11.1% in 2007.

Single parents with children were disproportionately affected, as were black and Hispanic households and those with income below the poverty line ($21,834 for a family of four).

Nine states with food insecurity rates above the national average from 2006 through 2008 were clustered in the South. The list includes North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and New Mexico. The North Central states of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin were among the 11 that had food insecurity rates below the national average. Regionally, rates were lowest in the Northeast at an average 12.8%, and highest in the South, which averaged 15.9%, the report said.

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Sunday, November 15, 2009

Home Builders (You Heard That Right) Get a Gift - NYTimes

Gretchen Morgenson

But tucked inside the law was another prize: a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004. The tax cuts will generate corporate refunds or relief worth about $33 billion, according to an administration estimate.

Before the bill became law, the so-called look-back on losses was limited to small businesses and could be used to counterbalance just two years of profits. Now the profit offset goes back five years, and the law allows big companies to take advantage of it, too. The only companies that can’t participate are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and any institution that took money under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Among the biggest beneficiaries are home builders, analysts say. Once again, at the front of the government assistance line, stand some of the very companies that contributed mightily to the credit crisis by building and financing too many homes.

This is getting to be a habit: companies that participated on the upside and are now reaping rewards from the taxpayers on the downside. The banks that underwrote so many dubious loans, for example, received government aid to get them lending again. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the result.

The Private Sector Has Lost 300,000 Jobs Since 1999


The Private Sector Has Lost 300,000 Jobs Since 1999



[T]he private sector has shed over 300,000 jobs since 1999.

Think about that.

We have had a decade where there have been no new jobs added by the private sector. Real incomes are roughly where they were, and the stock market is down.



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The Stupid Virus - video

Gotta watch.  Summarizes the year.

 

 

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Second grader brings gun to bus stop & shoots a parked car near Wigwam & Decatur

According to School Police, the second grader, a 7 year old boy, took the gun and intentionally fired it at a parked car in the area.  No one was injured in the shooting.  The gun was found by police in some bushes near the bus stop.  The 7 year old and another student are being questioned by police. 

Sean Hannity to Jon Stewart: 'You Were Right. We Apologize.'

 

Fox always does it!


Law and Order! I like this guy!

 
ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: Good morning.  Just over eight years ago, on a morning our nation will never forget, nineteen hijackers working with a network of Al Qaeda conspirators around the world launched the deadliest terrorist attacks our country has ever seen.  Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in those attacks, and in the years since, our nation has had no higher priority than bringing those who planned and plotted the attacks to justice.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

..the minute the brother's money was found in a freezer, it was a done deal....

Former Democratic U.S. Representative William Jefferson, who hid $90,000 in cash in his freezer, was sentenced on Friday to 13 years in prison for bribery, racketeering and money laundering.

Jefferson, who lost re-election last year in Louisiana, was accused in 2007 of soliciting millions of dollars in bribes from companies while using his office to broker business deals in Africa. He was convicted in August on 11 of 16 counts.

The case became particularly well-known because FBI agents said they found $90,000 in cash wrapped in foil and hidden inside various frozen food containers in his freezer.

High Costs Weigh on Troop Debate for Afghan War

Afghanistan’s new costs could wash out the projected $26 billion expected to be saved in 2010 from withdrawing troops from Iraq. And the overall military budget could rise to as much as $734 billion, or 10 percent more than the peak of $667 billion under the Bush administration.

Such an escalation in military spending would be a politically volatile issue for Mr. Obama at a time when the government budget deficit is soaring, the economy is weak and he is trying to pass a costly health care plan.

Senior members of the House Appropriations Committee have already expressed reservations about the potential long-term costs of expanding the war in Afghanistan. And Mr. Obama could find it difficult to win approval for the additional spending in Congress, where he would have to depend on Republicans to counter defections from liberal Democrats.

One senior administration official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the details of confidential deliberations, said these concerns had added to the president’s insistence at a White House meeting on Wednesday that each military option include the quickest possible exit strategy.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

RNC insurance plan covers abortion

RNC

The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.”

Federal Election Commission Records show the RNC purchases its insurance from Cigna. Two sales agents for the company said that the RNC’s policy covers elective abortion.

Informed of the coverage, RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that the policy pre-dates the tenure of current RNC Chairman Michael Steele.

“The current policy has been in effect since 1991, and we are taking steps to address the issue,” Gitcho said.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fox News Fact-Checks Sarah Palin


5 Mohler Family Members Charged With Crimes Against Children




Five members of the Mohler family, a 77-year-old father and four of his middle-aged sons, were arrested Tuesday on multiple charges of forcible sodomy and rape after a woman related stories of her and other children being forced to line up on a bed on their knees and each being assaulted by the men.

In this undated photo released by the Lafayette County Sheriff's Department, Jared Leroy Mohler, 48, of Columbia, Mo., David A. Mohler, 52, of Lamoni, Iowa, Burrell Edward Mohler Sr., 77, of Independence, Mo., Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., 53, also of Independence, Mo. and Roland Neil Mohler, 47, of Bates City, Mo. from left, are seen. Authorities were searching a rural property in western Missouri on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 for glass jars with notes written by children who allegedly were abused by their relatives about 20 years ago. (AP Photo/Lafayette County Sheriff's Department)

Jon Stewart Catches Sean Hannity Falsifying Footage To Make GOP Protest Appear Bigger (VIDEO)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
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Sunday, November 8, 2009

YEAH! - Abortion Restriction Amendment Wins Passage in the U.S. House - Bloomberg.com

Abortion Restriction Amendment Wins Passage in the U.S. House - Bloomberg.com: "The House voted to restrict the use of federal funds for abortion, limiting access to the procedure for people who use an insurance-purchasing exchange that would be created in pending U.S. health-care legislation.
The 240-194 vote for the amendment included the support of 64 Democrats in addition to Republicans. It came as lawmakers considered a larger bill designed to cover 36 million uninsured Americans and curb rising medical costs.
“I am not writing a new federal abortion policy,” Michigan Representative Bart Stupak, who sponsored the amendment, said in floor debate tonight. The amendment will preserve the “principle of no public funding of abortion and no public funding of insurance policies that pay for abortion.”
Stupak had threatened to join with fellow Democrats to block consideration of his party’s health bill over the issue."

BBC NEWS | Business | Buffett firm sees profits triple


BBC NEWS | Business | Buffett firm sees profits triple: "Berkshire Hathaway said its net profit was $3.2bn (£1.9bn) in the three months to September, compared to $1.1bn in the same period last year.
But most of that was due to an unrealised $1.1bn gain on some derivatives its insurance unit holds.
Mr Buffett last week said he was taking control of a US railroad in his biggest deal to date.
Berkshire agreed to buy the stock that it does not already own in Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), the biggest US haulier of products such as corn and coal, for about $26bn in cash and stock."

The Lone Republican - Health Bill Earns One Republican Vote - NYTimes.com


Health Bill Earns One Republican Vote - Prescriptions Blog - NYTimes.com: "Mr. Cao, a freshman from New Orleans, was elected last year in an upset victory over Representative William J. Jefferson, a Democrat who was under indictment on federal corruption charges at the time and has since been convicted. (Mr. Cao’s name is pronounced g-OW)."

Friday, November 6, 2009

Fort Hood - video

Across the country military families were dealing with shock and grief today, while those who lived through the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas told their stories and tried to make sense of it all, reports CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella.

Private Marquest Smith was in the Soldier Readiness Center getting his final paperwork before deploying to Afghanistan when he heard gunfire. He threw the woman next to him to the ground, shielding her with his own body.









Fort Campbell soldier and her civilian husband are dead in an apparent murder-suicide

Emergency operators received a call at about 2:09 p.m. Friday from a man who said he shot his wife and needed medical assistance, Oak Grove Police Cpl. Vincent Brown said.

Police went to the home at 117 Gail St. and found a man and a woman dead. Brown said the man had apparently shot himself.

The woman is a Fort Campbell soldier, and her husband is a civilian who was formerly in the military, police said.

The couple has a history of domestic violence, Brown said.

The couple's two boys, ages 4 and 6, were in the home at the time of the shooting, police said.

Officials tight-lipped about military murder at Camp Lejeune



Twenty-one-year-old Private Jonathan Law is in custody for the murder of another Marine early Friday morning. Officials still have their own questions regarding the incident, and are saying little about what they do know.

“A lot of your questions today are going to fall into two categories. On one hand, there are going to be a lot of unanswered questions because I simply don't have the information. On the other hand, there's going to be questions that I won't answer because of the pending investigation,” said US Marine Capt. Timothy Patrick.

Military authorities took Private Jonathan Law into custody after the body was found in the woods, near the French Creek area of the base. Law is a decorated Marine who joined the Corps in 2006 and served in Iraq.

What's At Stake - Ten Races That Have Republicans Worried for 2010 - TIME


What's At Stake - Ten Races That Have Republicans Worried for 2010 - TIME

Chart: Extending benefits for the jobless -- latimes.com



Chart: Extending benefits for the jobless -- latimes.com

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Chart: Unemployment rate -- latimes.com


Chart: Unemployment rate -- latimes.com

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Unemployment rate rises above 10% ; Obama signs jobless benefit extension -- latimes.com


Unemployment rate rises above 10% ; Obama signs jobless benefit extension -- latimes.com



The unexpectedly sharp increase in the unemployment rate, from 9.8% in September, came as employers dropped 190,000 workers from their payrolls last month. That was larger than the 175,000 job losses that most forecasters were expecting for the month, and it underscored just how dire the labor market remains despite the recent upturn in the nation's economic output.

The report did offer glimmers of hope. Government statisticians said job losses in September and August were a combined 91,000 fewer than previously estimated, and the latest month continued a trend of moderating job reductions since an average of nearly 700,000 positions were cut monthly in the first quarter. Moreover, employment in the temporary-help industry, which is considered a harbinger of broader hiring, has begun to grow again.

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U.S. bank regulators step in as two more fail - MarketWatch

U.S. bank regulators step in as two more fail - MarketWatch



A bank in Georgia and one in Detroit failed on Friday, bringing the 2009 tally to 117.

United Security Bank of Sparta, Ga., closed its doors for the last time on Friday, said the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Moultrie, Ga.-based Ameris Bank will assume control of all United Security's deposits.

Home Federal Savings Bank of Detroit, Mich., also failed late friday. New Orleans-based Liberty Bank and Trust Co. will assume control of its deposits.


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Thursday, November 5, 2009

Obama highlights AARP, AMA endorsements - Political Intelligence - Anational political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe - Boston.com

Obama highlights AARP, AMA endorsements - Political Intelligence - A
national political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe - Boston.com




"This is no small endorsement," he said of the AARP support, saying it should rebut criticism that the proposals would hurt seniors.

"We're thrilled they're standing with us," Obama, who plans to visit Capitol Hill on Friday in support of health reform, told reporters.

The AMA's backing is also important, he said, because "the doctors of America know what needs to be fixed with our health care system." (His full remarks are below.)

The AMA backed the Democratic bill, plus a companion bill that would shield doctors from cuts in Medicare reimbursements.


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Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Blow Out! - Republican Wins Virginia Governor Race - NYTimes.com


Republican Wins Virginia Governor Race - NYTimes.com: "Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican and a former state attorney general, won a decisive victory in Virginia’s governor’s race Tuesday, a stark reversal of fortune for Democrats who have held control in Richmond for the past eight years.
Mr. McDonnell defeated the Democratic candidate, R. Creigh Deeds, an 18-year state senator from rural Bath County in western Virginia."

Economic Calendar - 03 Nov 09

Cool!


Economic Calendar: "Tuesday, Nov. 3
10 amFactory ordersSept.0.9%0.6%-0.8%
10 amMotor vehicle salesOct.10.5 million10.2 million9.2 million"

Warren Buffett's Biggest. Deal. Ever. - MarketBeat - WSJ


CNBC - “[Burlington Northern] does it in a very cost-effective way and they do it in an extraordinarily environmentally friendly way," Buffett said. "BNSF last year moved on average a ton of goods 471 miles on one gallon of diesel and it releases far fewer pollutants into the atmosphere. It saves enormously on energy consumption and it diminishes highway congestion."

"I believe this country will prosper and will have more people moving more good 10 to 30 years from now and the rails should benefit, but it’s a bet on the country,” he added.

Warren Buffett's Biggest. Deal. Ever. - MarketBeat - WSJ: "The rationale for the deal? “It’s a bet on the country basically,” Buffett told CNBC, adding that as the country recovers from this recession, there will be an increased demand to move goods. “They do it in a very cost effective way [and] they do it in an extraordinarily environmentally friendly way,” Buffett said of railroads."