Friday, February 27, 2009

This'n'That;February 28th[IRA;Assets;Fluff;Swiss

401k-If Ya Haven't Looked, DON'T!
Mine is down 50.25%; the "Young Miss Lovely's" is down 41.43%!! Mine is more heavily invested in common stocks than hers. For those who are interested, domestic corporate bonds and bond funds do far better in a falling market than do common stocks. Our two 401-k's are invested with American Century so I researched through them, looking into the bond funds offered. I'm sure you can do the same with whatever fund family you're invested with. I've settled on a couple of high yield bond funds; one yielding 9.76[YTD:5.12]%, the other 9.65[YTD:3.62]%.
Mind Your Asset Allocation Ratios
Whether you're discussing IRAs, 401-k's or general investments, assessing your allocations on a regular basis is a must! At the least annually, but preferably in six-month intervals. When you invested your funds several months, years or decades ago, you established a ratio you were comfortable with at that time; over some or all of the various investment vehicles readily available. To gain further information in the whys, wherefores and importance of allocation, check out this site: www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm . It's a good tutorial on allocation and diversification.
"Fluff" Alert...."FLUFF" ALERT
This alert involves fmr President Bush. Remember that $300, $600 or $1,200 check you got from the IRS last summer? It turns out, it WAS NOT a tax cut, but only wealth redistribution and has to be treated as income at taxtime by the taxpayer. It was a Nerobamanomics style wealth-transfer check!! A talkshow caller spoke of doing her taxes. She and her husband had received a $1,200 Bush wealth-transfer check. She did their taxes without considering the check and had taxes due of $23-and-change. When she redid the calculations including the wealth-transfer amount, her taxes due jumped to $1,223-and-change!! Coincidence.....??...Doubt it!!
For You "Tax-Fraud" Readers....
Oops, forgot!!! There's probably not many democrats reading this blog!! For those of you who have those "secret" Swiss numbered bank accounts, I hope your deposits were from legitimate sources.
The decision last week by UBS AG to pay fines of $780 million and to hand U.S. authorities account details of around 300 clients to settle tax-fraud charges sent shockwaves through the banking world. Back in Miami, the Internal Revenue Service has filed a lawsuit demanding that UBS also give up the names of 52,000 account holders as part of a probe into individual tax evasion-a call that the bank and Swiss authorities have vowed to resist.
The heightened focus on Switzerland's role in international financial shenanigans has been years in the making and has picked up momentum in recent months. The landlocked nation's renowned rules on bank secrecy have come in for criticism from the likes of Alistair Darling, Britain's top Treasury official, and Peer Steinbrueck, Germany's finance minister. Sensing an opening, European leaders last weekend said they would make cracking down on tax havens a focus of a summit of the leaders of the Group of 20 nations scheduled for April. Kevin Conway, a tax partner in London, discusses how American authorities' dispute with Switzerland's UBS could ultimately change the rules for disclosing information about secret Swiss bank accounts.Switzerland has drawn the resentment of tax authorities for years, said Michel Habib, a banking professor at the University of Zurich.
For generations, client confidentiality has been a hallmark of the Swiss banking business, a virtual national brand identity. But what cemented Switzerland's status as a premier safe haven was a 1934 law that made it a criminal offense-rather than a civil matter-to divulge bank-account details, according to historian Youssef Cassis, a professor at the University of Geneva. Passage of tough secrecy laws ensured neutral Switzerland was a popular refuge for capital during World War II, Cassis said. And that was followed by what Cassis terms the "golden age" of Swiss banking, which lasted from the late 1940s to the 1980s.
Til Nex'Time....

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This'n'That; February 27th[Stats;CRAP;Fairness;Nationalization;Investing;

"Fluff Alert"..."FLUFF ALERT" Ya know that thirteen bucks you're supposed to get in your paycheck, starting in a couple of months?? Well, Nerobama has spread the ultimate in FLUFF!! THE TAX CODES HAVE NOT BEEN CHANGED TO REFLECT THAT!!! This is nothing more than a stealth wealth transfer scam!!! IT'S NOT A TAX CUT-Tax Year 2009, you're going to pay taxes on this ADDED INCOME!!! So, plan now to pay tax then!! [Still not convinced of the abounding socialism?!?!?!]
Startling Rochester N.Y. Statistics!
***39% high school graduation rate.
***57% of adults read at 6th grade level or below.
***38% child poverty rate, the highest in the state.
***a population decrease from 332,000 in the 50s to 208,000 today.
***a 41% drop in manufacturing jobs in recent decades.
I found these while I was casting about the internet looking for an email address for Rochester's Mayor Bob Duffy. There's a situation on our street that I wanted to make him aware of with a couple of photos [Photo, top]. I had called the Neighborhood Service Center and reported this condition. The house across the street is now for sale. Apparently the former tenets just walked away from it. Someone cleaned it out and put all kin'sa CRAP at the curb for trash pick-up. There are 16 large trash bags full and lotsa other CRAP that's not bagged. In the City of Rochester, residents can't put trash out until the evening before scheduled pick-up. Our scheduled pick-up day is Wednesday; this CRAP was put out yesterday, Thursday-that's SIX DAYS before pick-up!! Already the ragpickers have started going through the bags, strewing CRAP all over "Hell's Half-Acre!!" The winds are coming up so whatever the ghetto-dwellers don't take, the wind will!!
UPDATE: An inspector from the Neighborhood Service Center came to the scene this afternoon, took photos and assured me that the trash would be picked up and the homeowner would be assessed a $400.00 fee!!
...And I Thought I Was The ONLY Opponent!!
The Senate voted Thursday in favor of an amendment to the District of Columbia voting-rights bill that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from reinstating the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which critics say would decimate conservative talk radio.The Senate passed the measure 87-11. Republicans have introduced the Broadcaster Freedom Act in the House as well, but Democrats are not expected to allow a vote on the bill. The FCC first implemented the doctrine in the late 1940s to balance the political content of broadcasters, requiring them to give equal time to liberal and conservative viewpoints. The agency scrapped the regulation in the mid-'80s after determining that it was no longer necessary because the public had a wide array of political news sources from which to choose. Since then Congress has tried twice to re-implement the Fairness Doctrine but failed because of vetoes by former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The amendment, sponsored by Senate Republican Steering Committee Chairman Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman John Thune (S.D.), would block the FCC from reviving equal-time requirements by enacting the Broadcaster Freedom Act. Specifically, it would prohibit the agency from forcing broadcasters to present opposing viewpoints on “controversial issues of public importance.”Conservatives fear that forcing stations to make equal time for liberal talk radio would slash profits and pressure radio executives to scale back on conservative programming to avoid escalating costs and interference from government regulators. Opponents of the Fairness Doctrine argue that liberal talk radio has not proven popular or profitable. For example, "Air America," liberals’ answer to “The Rush Limbaugh Show,” filed for bankruptcy in October 2006.The FCC discarded the policy in 1985 after deciding that it restricted journalistic freedom and “actually inhibit[ed] the presentation of controversial issues of public importance to the detriment of the public and in degradation of the editorial prerogative of broadcast journalists,” according to a Congressional Research Service report.
It's Still Nationalization!
The federal government has an 80% stake in the insurance giant, AIG. They're about to take a 40% stake in Citibank-making the government the largest single shareholder. I hope you aren't one of the shareholders; your investment just lost considerable value!! When the government takes that large a stake in ANYTHING, that organization has become NATIONALIZED!! Nerobama is a devout socialist, tho' not a confessed one!! He can offer all the fluff he wants about this being a bailout.... BullShit!!! Anyone in his or her right mind, cannot believe that nationalization of the entire banking sector IS NOT IN THE OFFING!! Now that Nerobama has started on the insurance and banking sectors, is the auto industry far behind?? Will we have "Obamalet, or Obamord, or a PT Obama??
A Sidebar: To quote Mohamed El-Erain, CEO of PIMCO [mutual funds], when asked the following question: You're buying the bonds issued by the banks, but not the stock. Why? "Because the stocks get diluted every time the government comes in. This speaks to a very big issue, which is that the balance between private and public ownership is changing fundamentally. A mistake a lot of people make is to say, 'Here's a company so important the government is going to give it money to keep it going, so I'm going to buy its stock.' " [This is from Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, 03/009]
Til Nex'Time....

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

This'n'That; February 26th [ExecComp;Nerobama-socialism]

Executive Compensation
Will Nerobama's dictatorial policy include quasi-governmental agencies? John E. Potter, CEO of the United States Postal Service, has a total annual compensation of $857,459. Well......ya know....... socialist policies will out!!!!
He REALLY BELIEVES This Drivel!!
Nerobama-still "fiddlin', "economy-still "burnin' !!" This guy's gotta get new handlers! Two separate handlers must have written his speech to the Congress; out of one side of his mouth comes all these grandiose porkulus spending topics-out of the other side comes a pledge to "rein in government spending." Which piece of fluff are we to believe??
[quote:] “Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending and invest in areas like energy, healthcare and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down,” [end quote.] A tried and true, proven method of "jumpstarting" any portion of the economy is reasonable TRUE taxcuts. A "true" taxcut involves immediate reduction in federal spending equal to the dollar value of the tax rate reduction. A taxcut puts more funds at the disposal of those who actually create jobs. Who better to create jobs than someone who knows how to do it and has done it? All the presidential blather about creating and "saving" xx million [the number keeps changing!!] jobs is going nowhere!! There are too many "fingers in the pie!" Nerobama himself, and I suspect most of his cabinet are professional bureaucrats; never having worked in the private sector; never having had to make a payroll; never having received a paycheck that wasn't backed by government grants or pork barrel spending!!
Nerobama said that his budget outline, due to be delivered to Congress on Thursday, “will include an historic commitment to comprehensive healthcare reform-a down payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable healthcare for every American."“It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it’s a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come,” Nerobama said. A point or two that he failed to mention: Some of the various states of the union practically guarantee healthcare and treatment to all who show up on their stoop. The illegal aliens are bankrupting this system!! $18 BILLION annually in California alone!! The current inefficient policies and programs aren't nearly as costly as treating those who elect not to buy health insurance; those who should not be covered BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT AMERICANS!! Here's where someone, anyone, with the country's best interests at heart would have detailed a workable immigration policy, a workable border policing and defense policy, physical restraints and barriers on the border, itself-but did he?? Nope-socialism won't allow that!! His administration would help create a “retooled and reimagined” [auto] industry.“The nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it,” Nerobama said. GAWD!! He's as bigg'a dunce as biden!! He and his administration are going to "retool and reimagine" the auto industry. If that were even possible, why did the country wait until now to have the bureaucrats RETOOL ANYTHING or EVERYTHING!! Look back to the beginnings of the U.S. involvement in WWII. That era had "world-class" bureaucrats in federal service. If this "retooling and reimagining" by the government were necessary, would not the socialists of the era done it themselves, much like Nerobama THINKS he can?? NO, they relied on the likes of Henry Ford, Alfred P. Sloan, Walter P. Chrysler and others to convert to military production on comparatively, a moment's notice!! Quite obviously, Nerobama didn't fare well in "History 101".... spouting this latest drivel. He might want to check "the Funk and Wagnalls" to LEARN MORE about Carl Benz: German inventor Carl Benz (1844-1929) is one of the individuals given credit for the creation of the first automobile. In 1885 he invented the motorized tricycle, which became the first "horseless carriage" to be driven by an internal combustion engine. Benz's contributions to automotive design also included the creation of such features as a carburetor and an electrical ignition system. What does "reimagining" or "reimagine" even mean?? I can "re-imagine" anything-in ANY WAY I want to...... it this context, the statement makes no sense....but.... what's new and different?!?! Nerobama also spoke forcefully about the need for high school and higher education for the nation’s children. He promised by 2020 that America would have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. But beyond lauding more education funding in his stimulus package, Nerobama also called out for the need for reform in the American school system, which will be exemplified by his budget proposal. “That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement; and rewards for success,” the president said. Does the blather ever end?? He needs only to look at both the Asian countries and the asian students in America. In both, the drive for education and perfection seems to be foremost in their lifestyle-reinforced by their parents and their society. There are a coupla things he could do if he truly wanted to improve the American education experience: Discard the "tenure system." This does little more than assure mediocre teachers a position in the system; it rewards lacklustre performance. A gifted, successful teacher will not have any problem remaining in the system!! Secondly, this is one place where "The Fairness Doctrine [in Education]" would have a measureable, meaningful effect. For every commie-pinko professor, require a conservative one... particularly in the areas of social sciences and economics. DO NOT CONFUSE "conservative" with "Republican".... there'sa world of difference!!! Til Nex'Time....

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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This'n'That; February 25th[Nerobama;Jindal Speeches]

My Comments On Both Speeches
Right up front, I have to say that I didn't watch either the president's speech or Gov Jindal's rebuttal [if the rebuttal was even televised]. I like to consider myself an upbeat, positive person. The "Young Miss Lovely" suggests that I don't watch these things-I get too [physically] involved in what I'm hearing and seeing!!
NEROBAMA: GAWD.... this speech is tough to read!! My initial thought going into the reading was: Just so much "fluff" written by some handler-in some closet-in some building, in DC. I WAS CORRECT!! Nerobama certainly does toe-the-line he's been told to toe; bigger government, more influential unions, wealthy miscreants, poor "little guys," failure-is-not-an-option, ad infinitum!! How does this "restore confidence?" Given the current state of the federal government in general, the economy in particular, no one in the current administration seems to be able to see anything positive-ANYWHERE. After a quick scanning, I could find NOTHING POSITIVE in the entire speech; tho' I did find that our current situation is POSITIVELY the fault of the previous administration!! Let's just "throw more money" at the problems-education, banking, the auto industry, the credit problems, healthcare, housing foreclosures-to name a few. If this guy is serious about tackling the problems of the country, he could start with education: Nullify tenure-which only serves to reward mediocrity; good teachers will have no problem keeping their jobs. Continue on with HONEST union reform: realigning pay and benefits with "Joe Sixpak" will reduce the cost of almost EVERYTHING-autos, housing, healthcare, education. Those last three.....?? There's a plan that would improve them almost overnight!! An enforceable, sustainable and meaningful immigration program. The vast majority of the healthcare debacle is the emergency room use by illegal aliens. They know they'll receive care, even if they can't pay. Where'ja think that money comes from.....?? You and I, through higher healthcare costs and health insurance premiums!! Recently, a Rochester, N.Y. mother was jailed for putting her kids into a neighboring school district. GOOD; not only did she steal the tuition she didn't pay-she taught her children it's quite alright to lie, cheat and steal if the reason's correct in the thief's eyes. The same can be applied to illegal aliens, only they steal legally!! They flood classrooms with children that should be in some town in Mexico or South America-depriving legal, American students of the education they deserve and have the right to expect. Where's the Porkulus expenditures to complete the southern border fencing and barrier projects?? Nerobama said that credit flow is the lifeblood of the economy...I'll giv'em that one. At that point during his pontification a wise insertion would be to denounce the abuse of credit spending and to promote thrift and savings. All-in-all, just so much "fluff as usual!!" At some point America will wake up and demand some real plans, programs and policies to replace the fluff!! [I'm STILL WAITING for him to explain how a "saved" job is defined and accounted for!!]
GOVERNOR JINDAL: These two speeches are polar-opposites both in content and tone. He speaks of his family's hardships as [LEGAL] immigrants to America, and his parents' honorable solutions. He recites logical solutions to the economic woes we face. Governor, you can reinterate forever, all the logical, workable solutions to the economic problems we face, but they don'wanna hear'em!! Their primary goals are to remain in power, grow that power, provide financial rewards for their friends and supporters, insure their personal victory in the next election and steadfastly march toward socialism. I intend to send you a letter to this affect: Continue to promote the conservative doctrine, continue to publically provide alternatives to the current policies, stay in front of the news cameras and microphones-America needs a POSITIVE MESSAGE from someone!!!
nerobama Speech Text [Unedited]
Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, and the First Lady of the United States: I’ve come here tonight not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent us here. I know that for many Americans watching right now, the state of our economy is a concern that rises above all others. And rightly so. If you haven’t been personally affected by this recession, you probably know someone who has – a friend; a neighbor; a member of your family. You don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis, because you live it every day. It’s the worry you wake up with and the source of sleepless nights. It’s the job you thought you’d retire from but now have lost; the business you built your dreams upon that’s now hanging by a thread; the college acceptance letter your child had to put back in the envelope. The impact of this recession is real, and it is everywhere. But while our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken; though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before. The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and universities; in our fields and our factories; in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more. Now, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that for too long, we have not always met these responsibilities – as a government or as a people. I say this not to lay blame or look backwards, but because it is only by understanding how we arrived at this moment that we’ll be able to lift ourselves out of this predicament. The fact is, our economy did not fall into decline overnight. Nor did all of our problems begin when the housing market collapsed or the stock market sank. We have known for decades that our survival depends on finding new sources of energy. Yet we import more oil today than ever before. The cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform. Our children will compete for jobs in a global economy that too many of our schools do not prepare them for. And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before. In other words, we have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity; where we failed to look beyond the next payment, the next quarter, or the next election. A surplus became an excuse to transfer wealth to the wealthy instead of an opportunity to invest in our future. Regulations were gutted for the sake of a quick profit at the expense of a healthy market. People bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford from banks and lenders who pushed those bad loans anyway. And all the while, critical debates and difficult decisions were put off for some other time on some other day. Well that day of reckoning has arrived, and the time to take charge of our future is here. Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity. Now is the time to jumpstart job creation, re-start lending, and invest in areas like energy, health care, and education that will grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down. That is what my economic agenda is designed to do, and that’s what I’d like to talk to you about tonight. It’s an agenda that begins with jobs. As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by President’s Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government – I don’t. Not because I’m not mindful of the massive debt we’ve inherited – I am. I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships. In fact, a failure to act would have worsened our long-term deficit by assuring weak economic growth for years. That’s why I pushed for quick action. And tonight, I am grateful that this Congress delivered, and pleased to say that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is now law. Over the next two years, this plan will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector – jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges; constructing wind turbines and solar panels; laying broadband and expanding mass transit. Because of this plan, there are teachers who can now keep their jobs and educate our kids. Health care professionals can continue caring for our sick. There are 57 police officers who are still on the streets of Minneapolis tonight because this plan prevented the layoffs their department was about to make. Because of this plan, 95% of the working households in America will receive a tax cut – a tax cut that you will see in your paychecks beginning on April 1st. Because of this plan, families who are struggling to pay tuition costs will receive a $2,500 tax credit for all four years of college. And Americans who have lost their jobs in this recession will be able to receive extended unemployment benefits and continued health care coverage to help them weather this storm. I know there are some in this chamber and watching at home who are skeptical of whether this plan will work. I understand that skepticism. Here in Washington, we’ve all seen how quickly good intentions can turn into broken promises and wasteful spending. And with a plan of this scale comes enormous responsibility to get it right. That is why I have asked Vice President Biden to lead a tough, unprecedented oversight effort – because nobody messes with Joe. I have told each member of my Cabinet as well as mayors and governors across the country that they will be held accountable by me and the American people for every dollar they spend. I have appointed a proven and aggressive Inspector General to ferret out any and all cases of waste and fraud. And we have created a new website called recovery.gov so that every American can find out how and where their money is being spent. So the recovery plan we passed is the first step in getting our economy back on track. But it is just the first step. Because even if we manage this plan flawlessly, there will be no real recovery unless we clean up the credit crisis that has severely weakened our financial system. I want to speak plainly and candidly about this issue tonight, because every American should know that it directly affects you and your family’s well-being. You should also know that the money you’ve deposited in banks across the country is safe; your insurance is secure; and you can rely on the continued operation of our financial system. That is not the source of concern. The concern is that if we do not re-start lending in this country, our recovery will be choked off before it even begins. You see, the flow of credit is the lifeblood of our economy. The ability to get a loan is how you finance the purchase of everything from a home to a car to a college education; how stores stock their shelves, farms buy equipment, and businesses make payroll. But credit has stopped flowing the way it should. Too many bad loans from the housing crisis have made their way onto the books of too many banks. With so much debt and so little confidence, these banks are now fearful of lending out any more money to households, to businesses, or to each other. When there is no lending, families can’t afford to buy homes or cars. So businesses are forced to make layoffs. Our economy suffers even more, and credit dries up even further. That is why this administration is moving swiftly and aggressively to break this destructive cycle, restore confidence, and re-start lending. We will do so in several ways. First, we are creating a new lending fund that represents the largest effort ever to help provide auto loans, college loans, and small business loans to the consumers and entrepreneurs who keep this economy running. Second, we have launched a housing plan that will help responsible families facing the threat of foreclosure lower their monthly payments and re-finance their mortgages. It’s a plan that won’t help speculators or that neighbor down the street who bought a house he could never hope to afford, but it will help millions of Americans who are struggling with declining home values – Americans who will now be able to take advantage of the lower interest rates that this plan has already helped bring about. In fact, the average family who re-finances today can save nearly $2000 per year on their mortgage. Third, we will act with the full force of the federal government to ensure that the major banks that Americans depend on have enough confidence and enough money to lend even in more difficult times. And when we learn that a major bank has serious problems, we will hold accountable those responsible, force the necessary adjustments, provide the support to clean up their balance sheets, and assure the continuity of a strong, viable institution that can serve our people and our economy. I understand that on any given day, Wall Street may be more comforted by an approach that gives banks bailouts with no strings attached, and that holds nobody accountable for their reckless decisions. But such an approach won’t solve the problem. And our goal is to quicken the day when we re-start lending to the American people and American business and end this crisis once and for all. I intend to hold these banks fully accountable for the assistance they receive, and this time, they will have to clearly demonstrate how taxpayer dollars result in more lending for the American taxpayer. This time, CEOs won’t be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over. Still, this plan will require significant resources from the federal government – and yes, probably more than we’ve already set aside. But while the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade. That would be worse for our deficit, worse for business, worse for you, and worse for the next generation. And I refuse to let that happen. I understand that when the last administration asked this Congress to provide assistance for struggling banks, Democrats and Republicans alike were infuriated by the mismanagement and results that followed. So were the American taxpayers. So was I. So I know how unpopular it is to be seen as helping banks right now, especially when everyone is suffering in part from their bad decisions. I promise you – I get it. But I also know that in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger, or yield to the politics of the moment. My job – our job – is to solve the problem. Our job is to govern with a sense of responsibility. I will not spend a single penny for the purpose of rewarding a single Wall Street executive, but I will do whatever it takes to help the small business that can’t pay its workers or the family that has saved and still can’t get a mortgage. That’s what this is about. It’s not about helping banks – it’s about helping people. Because when credit is available again, that young family can finally buy a new home. And then some company will hire workers to build it. And then those workers will have money to spend, and if they can get a loan too, maybe they’ll finally buy that car, or open their own business. Investors will return to the market, and American families will see their retirement secured once more. Slowly, but surely, confidence will return, and our economy will recover. So I ask this Congress to join me in doing whatever proves necessary. Because we cannot consign our nation to an open-ended recession. And to ensure that a crisis of this magnitude never happens again, I ask Congress to move quickly on legislation that will finally reform our outdated regulatory system. It is time to put in place tough, new common-sense rules of the road so that our financial market rewards drive and innovation, and punishes short-cuts and abuse. The recovery plan and the financial stability plan are the immediate steps we’re taking to revive our economy in the short-term. But the only way to fully restore America’s economic strength is to make the long-term investments that will lead to new jobs, new industries, and a renewed ability to compete with the rest of the world. The only way this century will be another American century is if we confront at last the price of our dependence on oil and the high cost of health care; the schools that aren’t preparing our children and the mountain of debt they stand to inherit. That is our responsibility. In the next few days, I will submit a budget to Congress. So often, we have come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or laundry lists of programs. I see this document differently. I see it as a vision for America – as a blueprint for our future. My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue. It reflects the stark reality of what we’ve inherited – a trillion dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession. Given these realities, everyone in this chamber – Democrats and Republicans – will have to sacrifice some worthy priorities for which there are no dollars. And that includes me. But that does not mean we can afford to ignore our long-term challenges. I reject the view that says our problems will simply take care of themselves; that says government has no role in laying the foundation for our common prosperity. For history tells a different story. History reminds us that at every moment of economic upheaval and transformation, this nation has responded with bold action and big ideas. In the midst of civil war, we laid railroad tracks from one coast to another that spurred commerce and industry. From the turmoil of the Industrial Revolution came a system of public high schools that prepared our citizens for a new age. In the wake of war and depression, the GI Bill sent a generation to college and created the largest middle-class in history. And a twilight struggle for freedom led to a nation of highways, an American on the moon, and an explosion of technology that still shapes our world. In each case, government didn’t supplant private enterprise; it catalyzed private enterprise. It created the conditions for thousands of entrepreneurs and new businesses to adapt and to thrive. We are a nation that has seen promise amid peril, and claimed opportunity from ordeal. Now we must be that nation again. That is why, even as it cuts back on the programs we don’t need, the budget I submit will invest in the three areas that are absolutely critical to our economic future: energy, health care, and education. It begins with energy. We know the country that harnesses the power of clean, renewable energy will lead the 21st century. And yet, it is China that has launched the largest effort in history to make their economy energy efficient. We invented solar technology, but we’ve fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. New plug-in hybrids roll off our assembly lines, but they will run on batteries made in Korea. Well I do not accept a future where the jobs and industries of tomorrow take root beyond our borders – and I know you don’t either. It is time for America to lead again. Thanks to our recovery plan, we will double this nation’s supply of renewable energy in the next three years. We have also made the largest investment in basic research funding in American history – an investment that will spur not only new discoveries in energy, but breakthroughs in medicine, science, and technology. We will soon lay down thousands of miles of power lines that can carry new energy to cities and towns across this country. And we will put Americans to work making our homes and buildings more efficient so that we can save billions of dollars on our energy bills. But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support that innovation, we will invest fifteen billion dollars a year to develop technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and more fuel-efficient cars and trucks built right here in America. As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices. But we are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win. Millions of jobs depend on it. Scores of communities depend on it. And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it. None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy. But this is America. We don’t do what’s easy. We do what is necessary to move this country forward. For that same reason, we must also address the crushing cost of health care. This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages. And in each of these years, one million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas. And it’s one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget. Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold. Already, we have done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade. When it was days old, this Congress passed a law to provide and protect health insurance for eleven million American children whose parents work full-time. Our recovery plan will invest in electronic health records and new technology that will reduce errors, bring down costs, ensure privacy, and save lives. It will launch a new effort to conquer a disease that has touched the life of nearly every American by seeking a cure for cancer in our time. And it makes the largest investment ever in preventive care, because that is one of the best ways to keep our people healthy and our costs under control. This budget builds on these reforms. It includes an historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform – a down-payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American. It’s a commitment that’s paid for in part by efficiencies in our system that are long overdue. And it’s a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in the years to come. Now, there will be many different opinions and ideas about how to achieve reform, and that is why I’m bringing together businesses and workers, doctors and health care providers, Democrats and Republicans to begin work on this issue next week. I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process. It will be hard. But I also know that nearly a century after Teddy Roosevelt first called for reform, the cost of our health care has weighed down our economy and the conscience of our nation long enough. So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year. The third challenge we must address is the urgent need to expand the promise of education in America. In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a pre-requisite. Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing occupations require more than a high school diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens have that level of education. We have one of the highest high school dropout rates of any industrialized nation. And half of the students who begin college never finish. This is a prescription for economic decline, because we know the countries that out-teach us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why it will be the goal of this administration to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education – from the day they are born to the day they begin a career. Already, we have made an historic investment in education through the economic recovery plan. We have dramatically expanded early childhood education and will continue to improve its quality, because we know that the most formative learning comes in those first years of life. We have made college affordable for nearly seven million more students. And we have provided the resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and teacher layoffs that would set back our children’s progress. But we know that our schools don’t just need more resources. They need more reform. That is why this budget creates new incentives for teacher performance; pathways for advancement, and rewards for success. We’ll invest in innovative programs that are already helping schools meet high standards and close achievement gaps. And we will expand our commitment to charter schools. It is our responsibility as lawmakers and educators to make this system work. But it is the responsibility of every citizen to participate in it. And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma. And dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself, it’s quitting on your country – and this country needs and values the talents of every American. That is why we will provide the support necessary for you to complete college and meet a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. I know that the price of tuition is higher than ever, which is why if you are willing to volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to your community or serve your country, we will make sure that you can afford a higher education. And to encourage a renewed spirit of national service for this and future generations, I ask this Congress to send me the bipartisan legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin Hatch as well as an American who has never stopped asking what he can do for his country – Senator Edward Kennedy. These education policies will open the doors of opportunity for our children. But it is up to us to ensure they walk through them. In the end, there is no program or policy that can substitute for a mother or father who will attend those parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the video games, and read to their child. I speak to you not just as a President, but as a father when I say that responsibility for our children's education must begin at home. There is, of course, another responsibility we have to our children. And that is the responsibility to ensure that we do not pass on to them a debt they cannot pay. With the deficit we inherited, the cost of the crisis we face, and the long-term challenges we must meet, it has never been more important to ensure that as our economy recovers, we do what it takes to bring this deficit down. I’m proud that we passed the recovery plan free of earmarks, and I want to pass a budget next year that ensures that each dollar we spend reflects only our most important national priorities. Yesterday, I held a fiscal summit where I pledged to cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office. My administration has also begun to go line by line through the federal budget in order to eliminate wasteful and ineffective programs. As you can imagine, this is a process that will take some time. But we’re starting with the biggest lines. We have already identified two trillion dollars in savings over the next decade. In this budget, we will end education programs that don’t work and end direct payments to large agribusinesses that don’t need them. We’ll eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq, and reform our defense budget so that we’re not paying for Cold War-era weapons systems we don’t use. We will root out the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn’t make our seniors any healthier, and we will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas. In order to save our children from a future of debt, we will also end the tax breaks for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. But let me perfectly clear, because I know you’ll hear the same old claims that rolling back these tax breaks means a massive tax increase on the American people: if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime. In fact, the recovery plan provides a tax cut – that’s right, a tax cut – for 95% of working families. And these checks are on the way. To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security. Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans. Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price. We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war. And with our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat al Qaeda and combat extremism. Because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens half a world away. As we meet here tonight, our men and women in uniform stand watch abroad and more are readying to deploy. To each and every one of them, and to the families who bear the quiet burden of their absence, Americans are united in sending one message: we honor your service, we are inspired by your sacrifice, and you have our unyielding support. To relieve the strain on our forces, my budget increases the number of our soldiers and Marines. And to keep our sacred trust with those who serve, we will raise their pay, and give our veterans the expanded health care and benefits that they have earned. To overcome extremism, we must also be vigilant in upholding the values our troops defend – because there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America. That is why I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists – because living our values doesn’t make us weaker, it makes us safer and it makes us stronger. And that is why I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture. In words and deeds, we are showing the world that a new era of engagement has begun. For we know that America cannot meet the threats of this century alone, but the world cannot meet them without America. We cannot shun the negotiating table, nor ignore the foes or forces that could do us harm. We are instead called to move forward with the sense of confidence and candor that serious times demand. To seek progress toward a secure and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors, we have appointed an envoy to sustain our effort. To meet the challenges of the 21st century – from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty – we will strengthen old alliances, forge new ones, and use all elements of our national power. And to respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 to restore confidence in our financial system, avoid the possibility of escalating protectionism, and spur demand for American goods in markets across the globe. For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world’s. As we stand at this crossroads of history, the eyes of all people in all nations are once again upon us – watching to see what we do with this moment; waiting for us to lead. Those of us gathered here tonight have been called to govern in extraordinary times. It is a tremendous burden, but also a great privilege – one that has been entrusted to few generations of Americans. For in our hands lies the ability to shape our world for good or for ill. I know that it is easy to lose sight of this truth – to become cynical and doubtful; consumed with the petty and the trivial. But in my life, I have also learned that hope is found in unlikely places; that inspiration often comes not from those with the most power or celebrity, but from the dreams and aspirations of Americans who are anything but ordinary. I think about Leonard Abess, the bank president from Miami who reportedly cashed out of his company, took a $60 million bonus, and gave it out to all 399 people who worked for him, plus another 72 who used to work for him. He didn’t tell anyone, but when the local newspaper found out, he simply said, ''I knew some of these people since I was 7 years old. I didn't feel right getting the money myself.” I think about Greensburg, Kansas, a town that was completely destroyed by a tornado, but is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. “The tragedy was terrible,” said one of the men who helped them rebuild. “But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.” And I think about Ty’Sheoma Bethea, the young girl from that school I visited in Dillon, South Carolina – a place where the ceilings leak, the paint peels off the walls, and they have to stop teaching six times a day because the train barrels by their classroom. She has been told that her school is hopeless, but the other day after class she went to the public library and typed up a letter to the people sitting in this room. She even asked her principal for the money to buy a stamp. The letter asks us for help, and says, “We are just students trying to become lawyers, doctors, congressmen like yourself and one day president, so we can make a change to not just the state of South Carolina but also the world. We are not quitters.” We are not quitters. These words and these stories tell us something about the spirit of the people who sent us here. They tell us that even in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity. Their resolve must be our inspiration. Their concerns must be our cause. And we must show them and all our people that we are equal to the task before us. I know that we haven’t agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground. And if we do – if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, “something worthy to be remembered.” Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
Governor Jindal's Rebuttal [Unedited]
"Good evening. I'm Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana. Tonight, we witnessed a great moment in the history of our Republic. In the very chamber where Congress once voted to abolish slavery, our first African-American President stepped forward to address the state of our union. With his speech tonight, the President completed a redemptive journey that took our nation from Independence Hall . to Gettysburg . to the lunch counter . and now, finally, the Oval Office. Regardless of party, all Americans are moved by the President's personal story -- the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, who grew up to become leader of the free world. Like the President's father, my parents came to this country from a distant land. When they arrived in Baton Rouge, my mother was already 4 ½ months pregnant. I was what folks in the insurance industry now call a 'pre-existing condition.' To find work, my dad picked up the yellow pages and started calling local businesses. Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery -- so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment. As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country -- and they instilled in me an immigrant's wonder at the greatness of America. As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad. Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty. And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: 'Bobby, Americans can do anything.' I still believe that to this day. Americans can do anything. When we pull together, there is no challenge we cannot overcome. As the President made clear this evening, we are now in a time of challenge. Many of you listening tonight have lost jobs. Others have seen your college and retirement savings dwindle. Many of.... ...you are worried about losing your health care and your homes. And you are looking to your elected leaders in Washington for solutions. Republicans are ready to work with the new President to provide those solutions. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don't care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation's capital. All of us want our economy to recover and our nation to prosper. So where we agree, Republicans must be the President's strongest partners. And where we disagree, Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward. Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us. Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts. Let me tell you a story. During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: 'Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!' I asked him: 'Sheriff, what's got you so mad?' He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go -- when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, 'Sheriff, that's ridiculous.' And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: 'Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!' Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people. There is a lesson in this experience: The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens. We are grateful for the support we have received from across the nation for the ongoing recovery efforts. This spirit got Louisiana through the hurricanes -- and this spirit will get our nation through the storms we face today. To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you -- the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything. That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs. But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history -- with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called 'volcano monitoring.' Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC. Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt. Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It's irresponsible. And it's no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs or build a prosperous future for our children. In Louisiana, we took a different approach. Since I became governor, we cut more than 250 earmarks from our state budget. And to create jobs for our citizens, we cut taxes six times -- including the largest income tax cut in the history of our state. We passed those tax cuts with bipartisan majorities. Republicans and Democrats put aside their differences, and worked together to make sure our people could keep more of what they earn. If it can be done in Baton Rouge, surely it can be done in Washington, DC. To strengthen our economy, we need urgent action to keep energy prices down. All of us remember what it felt like to pay $4 at the pump -- and unless we act now, those prices will return. To stop that from happening, we need to increase conservation, increase energy efficiency, increase the use of alternative and renewable fuels, increase our use of nuclear power, and increase drilling for oil and gas here at home. We believe that Americans can do anything -- and if we unleash the innovative spirit of our citizens, we can achieve energy independence. To strengthen our economy, we also need to address the crisis in health care. Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage - period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. We oppose universal government-run health care.Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients -- not by government bureaucrats. We believe Americans can do anything -- and if we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens. To strengthen our economy, we also need to make sure every child in America gets the best possible education. After Katrina, we reinvented the New Orleans school system -- opening dozens of new charter schools, and creating a new scholarship program that is giving parents the chance to send their children to private or parochial schools of their choice. We believe that, with the proper education, the children of America can do anything. And it should not take a devastating storm to bring this kind of innovation to education in our country. To strengthen our economy, we must promote confidence in America by ensuring ours is the most ethical and transparent system in the world. In my home state, there used to be saying: At any given time, half of Louisiana is under water -- and the other half is under indictment. No one says that anymore. Last year, we passed some of the strongest ethics laws in the nation -- and today, Louisiana has turned her back on the corruption of the past. We need to bring transparency to Washington, DC -- so we can rid our Capitol of corruption and ensure we never see the passage of another trillion dollar spending bill that Congress has not even read and the American people haven't even seen. As we take these steps, we must remember for all our troubles at home, dangerous enemies still seek our destruction. Now is no time to dismantle the defenses that have protected this country for hundreds of years, or make deep cuts in funding for our troops. America's fighting men and women can do anything. And if we give them the resources they need, they will stay on the offensive, defeat our enemies and protect us from harm. In all these areas, Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his message of hope -- but sometimes it seems we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you -- the American people. In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the National Democrats' view that says -- the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, and empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs. In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear -- because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust -- and rightly so. Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say: Our party is determined to regain your trust. We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share -- the principles you elected us to fight for -- the principles that built this into the greatest, most prosperous country on earth. A few weeks ago, the President warned that our nation is facing a crisis that he said 'we may not be able to reverse.' Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover -- or that America's best days are behind her. This is the nation that cast off the scourge of slavery, overcame the Great Depression, prevailed in two World Wars, won the struggle for civil rights, defeated the Soviet menace, and responded with determined courage to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man -- and the American spirit will triumph again. We can have confidence in our future -- because, amid today's challenges, we also count many blessings: We have the most innovative citizens --the most abundant resources -- the most resilient economy -- the most powerful military -- and the freest political system in the history of the world. My fellow citizens, never forget: We are Americans. And like my Dad said years ago, Americans can do anything. Thank you for listening. God bless you. And God bless America."

allvoices

allvoices

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

This'n'That;February 24th[Cop;Fix;Nerobama]

Wounded Cop Update
[From the Democrat and Chronicle; brain rendering from Gannett News Service]
When Rochester Police Officer Anthony DiPonzio was shot in the back of his head just more than three weeks ago the odds were stacked against him. About 85 percent of people with that type of gunshot wound through the brain die within days. Those who live are usually on ventilators and unresponsive for weeks, many remain in the hospital for months, and all face long and difficult recoveries. So when the 23-year-old officer was breathing on his own, squeezing hands and giving thumbs-up signs in less than a week, it astonished even Dr Paul Maurer [his doctor], a Rochester neurosurgeon who has treated thousands of gunshot-wound patients and served as a ballistics expert to Homeland Security. Within a week and a half, DiPonzio spoke for the first time, and last week, he was moved from Rochester General Hospital to a brain rehabilitation center at Unity Health System. While the struggles that he continues to face come with more risks and no guarantees, the progress DiPonzio has already made might signal a recovery path that turns even further against the odds. To be sure, doctors know little about DiPonzio's long-term prognosis, and the outlook can change at any time. Infections can pose a threat for months to come, and very few patients who suffer gunshot wounds to the brain ever regain lives similar to the ones they had. But for the fortunate few, "at the end of nine to 12 months, sometimes the recoveries are impressive," said Dr. Paul Maurer, the University of Rochester Medical Center neurosurgeon who operated on DiPonzio. "You're never what nature made you, but some of those patients get back pretty close to where they were." No formula can determine whether patients survive or die, have lifelong disabilities or make incredible recoveries, but Maurer and others say several key factors can shape what happens after a shooting. "There are an amazing number of cases where people will survive what you would think to be absolutely fatal injury, because some of the wounding impact doesn't get to the patient, like when the bullet is coming from a long way away," said Dr. Ross Bullock, director of neurotrauma at the University of Miami and a councilor of the National Neurotrauma Society. Most people lose consciousness immediately from the initial impact of the bullet, and those who can continue to breathe and make it to the hospital quickly with at least a few motor responses have the best chances of surviving, Bullock said. Bleeding and injuries in the brain stem can be deadly. The path the bullet follows permanently destroys the fibers in that part of the brain. Around the path, other parts of the brain swell from the impact, causing more damage and often leading to death. The amount the brain swells depends largely on the size and speed of the bullet. This brain swelling poses the greatest immediate danger after the initial impact. When a patient arrives at a hospital, surgeons remove the top half of the skull to relieve pressure, and insert a tube down the middle of the brain that drains spinal fluid to help to reduce the swelling. The first three to five days are the riskiest for swelling, and despite doctors' efforts, most people die within the first two days from significant brain damage caused by the pressure, Maurer said. For those who make it through, swelling typically subsides within the first seven to 10 days, and the tube and a brain pressure monitor are removed. But the skull is not replaced until at least six months later because infections still pose a constant threat and could require repeated procedures to clear up the bacteria. When a bullet enters, it carries bacteria, hair, fragments of the scalp and other debris into the brain. The risk of infection is greatest in the first two weeks, though the threat lasts for months. "The outside world is now inside, and the brain has never seen the outside before," Maurer said. When doctors remove the skull in the first operation after a shooting, they also surgically clean the first 2 inches of the bullet's path and flush out the rest of the tract. Surgeons remove the bullet if it is accessible, but leave it in place if it's lodged too deep. Though the risk of infections is serious, aggressively tracking down the bullet and cleaning out its entire path can cause more life-threatening damage to the brain. Infections are treated instead with strong antibiotics, which also sterilize the bullet. The bullet typically doesn't move in the brain once it's lodged, and when the bullet is sterilized in about three to four weeks, antibiotics are no longer needed. People who survive gunshot wounds can live the rest of their lives with bullets in their heads. The difficult fight in the first weeks after a shooting, from draining spinal fluid to warding off infections, is meant not only to save a life, but also to give the patient every chance to return to a good quality life, Maurer said. "You can't change what was lost the moment the bullet went through," Maurer said. "But you start the battle to fight for every single brain cell you can save, because that's what will determine the outcome." Where the bullet hits the brain can also make the difference between life or death, and how well victims recover. In general, people suffer the gravest injuries when hit on the left side of the brain, which controls much of thinking, reading, writing and speaking. "All of these injuries are very severe and very life-threatening even in the best care. But given the choice, right brain injuries are always better than left brain injuries," Maurer said. "That's your best chance to do OK." Doctors have reported that DiPonzio was hit in the back right side of his brain. That area, called the occipital lobe, controls functions related to vision, said Bullock, who did not treat DiPonzio. But the extent of the long-term damage caused by a gunshot wound is difficult to determine in the first few weeks. The bullet could have traveled through other lobes, or the pressure could have damaged other parts of the brain. Most bullets, other than those from high-powered rifles, also don't have the speed to make it through the other side of the head and can ricochet inside the skull, causing additional damage. "There's an immense amount of energy that bullets impart to the brain," said Ronald Hayes, co-founder and director of clinical studies at Banyan Biomarkers, a U.S. Department of Defense-funded biotechnology company that develops ways to detect traumatic brain injuries. "The pressure waves propagated by the movement from a bullet through the brain can cause very different patterns of injury." The different patterns of injury can direct the long process of recovery following the riskiest first few weeks. Most people with gunshot wounds in the brain begin rehabilitation after two to four weeks, and their long-term prognosis becomes clearer after about a week with therapists, said Dr. Mary Dombovy, who leads Unity's Brain Injury Rehabilitation program. Some cognitive and behavioral issues, however, can take longer to show up, and many people shot in the brain can suffer seizures for up to a year. "Every gunshot wound is going to be different," she said. "It's a very individual thing."In rehabilitation, people who have suffered gunshot wounds often must relearn such basic functions as walking or talking. Those who have disabilities also work on finding other ways to do basic tasks; for example, using the left arm to pick up items if the right arm is paralyzed. Many take medications that help strengthen concentration, alertness and memory. Often, the cognitive and behavioral effects of a gunshot wound to the brain are the most permanently debilitating, while physical disabilities are more easily overcome, Dombovy said. With all the disabilities, rehabilitation can take many months, but "it's very critical to push the person to work on the things they're having difficulty with," she said. "The brain changes in a positive way in response." But as DiPonzio continues to progress every day, Maurer said cautiously that there are reasons to hope for a strong recovery. Despite the difficulties after a shooting, some people seem to go against all odds, he said. "And in those patients, it's very gratifying."
Need A "Fix?"
Don't forget to get your Lonsberry /FUBO "fix" at http://www.lonsberry.com/ .
The Daily Dose of "Bovine Feces" [As my Ma use'ta say, this is "The pot calling the kettle black!" She didn't have a prejudiced bone in her body.... so that WAS NOT a racial slur!! Sure "Dubya" left a deficit.. he was fightin' a two-front war!! Nerobama displayed fiscal ineptitude in pushing, signing the Porkulus package!! Nerobama can't lay all this housing rescue crap at Bush's feet; we have Carter[DEMOCRAT], "Slick Willie" [DEMOCRAT] and Andrew Cuomo [DEMOCRAT] to thank for that. They're the ones who purposely loosened the credit and earnings requirements to have more slugs OCCUPY homes; they weren't homeowners-there was no way they could afford the houses they were in. They OCCUPIED them until they would be tossed out. Instead of giving the slugs a 15-17% welfare raise, he should have done the fiscally responsible thing and cut entitlement programs 15% across-the-board, IMMEDIATELY-and returned the mortgage requirements to PRE-Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 levels. But, given all that... in just ONE MONTH-when Nerobama gets his hands on the health care system.... ya might just as well bend over and "kiss your wallet goodbye!!" That'll turn into just another entitlement program; everyone "has a right" to government-funded healthcare, courtesy of you and I. I hold a job that has a healthcare plan-don't you?? In the last fifty years, all democrats have managed to do is create an ever increasing dependency class; those who also "have the right" to sit on their dead-asses spending our money, watching our TVs. Now, every time they get a "fart cross-ways," we'll pay for them to go to the emergency room at $12-1,400 "a pop!!" ..... and don't believe the fecal matter opinion that entitlement reform HAS TO GO THROUGH health care!! Just another way for the federal government to get more and more control over the American way of life-that may not be a bad idea, tho'.... our way of life seems to have deteriorated to a "welfare state." The entire population can go on the dole; with free health care to boot, we'll want for nothing!! Wonder where he thinks the tax revenue's gonna come from then??] As President Nerobama convened a high-level summit Monday pledging to set the country on a more responsible fiscal course, he blamed the government’s financial straits on his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and on gimmicks used to keep hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending off the books. “This administration has inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit — the largest in our nation’s history, and our investments to rescue the nation’s economy will add to that deficit,” Nerobama said as he convened a fiscal responsibility summit at the White House on Monday. “We cannot and will not sustain deficits like these without end. Contrary to the prevailing wisdom in Washington these past few years, we cannot simply spend as we please and defer the consequences to the next budget, the next administration or the next generation.” Nerobama gave policy wonks pride of place in the East Room as he convened about 130 lawmakers, policy advocates and union and business leaders for a meeting to showcase his commitment to reining in the deficit and getting control of exploding federal entitlement programs. “The long-term fiscal picture is unsustainable,” a liberal economist, Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the group. “We are on the path to the very debt explosion we must avoid. While holding the summit so close to passage of the $787 billion stimulus package jarred some, others said bold steps were necessary. “Crises of the magnitude of the current one only end with overwhelming government action,” an adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid, Mark Zandi of Moody’s Economy.com, told the gathering. Nerobama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, sounded one of the administration’s key themes: that the president’s health care reform plan is essential to getting programs such as Medicare and Medicaid under control. “To my fellow budget hawks in this room and in the rest of the country, let me be very clear: Health care reform is entitlement reform,” he said. “The path to fiscal responsibility must run directly through health care.” “We do ourselves no favors by hiding the truth about what we spend. In order to address our fiscal crisis, we’re going to have to be candid about its scope,” he said. In a measure of the spending challenge, Nerobama lauded the Agriculture Department for saving $19 million in training and management costs — a figure that amounts to a rounding error on the trillion-dollar deficit. As for a program with potentially grander impact, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs declined to confirm reports that Nerobama dropped plans to set up a Social Security commission after congressional leaders objected. But at a briefing Monday, Gibbs promised there would be few celebrating when Nerobama’s budget is released on Thursday. “Everybody has to be involved in the sharing of pain,” he said. After hearing from Nerobama in the East Room, summit participants headed to the nearby Eisenhower Executive Office Building to attend one of five “breakout sessions” that focused on narrow issues. Top administration officials were to shepherd the discussions, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leading one on taxes and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers tackling Social Security. Til Nex'Time....

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Monday, February 23, 2009

This'n'That;February 23rd[Etrepreneurs;PolCartoon;Gov'tCardScam;Jobs;Mouths]

Entrepreneurship BEFORE Porkulus!!
[Nerobama economic policies, rather than continuing to pay the slugs to sit on their dead asses through welfare benefit increases [15-17%], would have been far more beneficial to have provided start up LOANS for young folks like those highlighted below; the handlers could have still skimmed money "off the top" much like they will via the 93% of the bill that's PURE PORK!!! Nerobama only has to look as far as the local newspaper to find these young individuals who don't need the federal pork to get a company off the ground. Rather than redistribute wealth to those companies that rightly should be allowed to fail.... he should promote true entrepreneurship!! Rather than sittin' around or flyin' around while the economy "burns," check out these few examples of high school and college students that have founded companies.... those same types of companies that will be responsible for hiring the vast majority of the American workforce, NOT the GMs and the Citibanks!!]
A Local Kid Done Good
He hasn't collected a salary yet, but teen entrepreneur Cody Behrns still has a passion for his work.Cody, 15, has managed Small Town Skate Shop for a year, and while the Pittsford Sutherland High School freshman says business has been slow during the winter, he expects sales to increase as the weather improves. The shop — which operates from a free-standing train caboose in Pittsford [NY]'s Northfield Commons plaza — offers skateboards and accessories, T-shirts, shoes, hats and other apparel. A small case containing root beer, bottled water and other drinks is along one wall of the caboose. It's the only shop exclusively offering skating merchandise in Pittsford. Some startup capital from his dad, Howard, enabled Cody to open the business, but the teenager takes the lead in operating Small Town, from handling the banking to keeping enough merchandise in stock to running the cash register. Cody said he's at the shop "pretty much every second I'm not in school or skating."The monthly lease for the caboose is $400, which keeps the company's overhead low. While it has been difficult running a relatively new specialty shop during the recession, the Behrnses say they're staying afloat. "If we were in this to make money, we'd be in trouble," said Howard Behrns, who works for Castle Products, a Rochester-based seller of automotive chemicals. "I'm in this for (Cody's) experience. He's paying his way right now." Cody, who has been skateboarding since fourth grade, applies information learned in business and technology classes at Sutherland to his company. He's also working to build a Small Town online store. He's planning a new venture for the spring: a line of sweatshirts sporting his company's logo. The sweatshirts will be in six different colors priced at about $35. He said it's more cost-effective as a business owner to sell some items that aren't a national or international brand to eliminate paying a distributor and other fees. In addition to global brands such as Neff and Dekline, the teenager showcases merchandise from Rochester-based vendor Etiket and other local businesses. Although he loves the job, Cody admitted that paying utilities, rent, purchasing merchandise and other expenses are the sobering parts of running a small business.
Some College Students Done Good
YALE UNIVERSITY
Justin Yan joined Yale's army the week he arrived in New Haven, Connecticut, as a freshman last fall. He proved himself first as a spy, infiltrating enemy lines up and down the Northeast. Then he was promoted to commander. "It was all downhill from there," Yan says. "I was sucked in." Yan is one of more than 40,000 college students who have become addicted to GoCrossCampus, or GXC -- an online game developed by a group of current and former Yalies. The rules are similar to those of the classic board game Risk: Teams of players from various schools battle for territory on a map that reflects real campuses, right down to landmarks such as dorms and dining halls. More than 2,000 kids from the 12 schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference competed in a recent championship match, and 5,600 participated in an Ivy League battle. ("The single largest competitive event in the history of the Ivy League," GXC's website boasts. "Prepare for awesomeness.")
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
If you happen to be in Missouri, keep an eye out for a commercial on cable TV featuring a guy in white tights and a green cape. His name is Brian Laoruangroch, and he is the 24-year-old founder and CEO of Green Mobile, a company that buys, sells, trades, and repairs used mobile phones. The business started in 2004 basically as an eBay hobby, when Laoruangroch realized he could buy old phones and resell them for a profit. He soon built his own website to market refurbished phones; his brother Brett, like Brian a University of Missouri student, joined him and took charge of learning how to repair them. They eventually opened a kiosk in a local mall, and then, last summer, Laoruangroch decided the business was large enough to support a retail storefront in Columbia.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
Zac Workman became a connoisseur of energy drinks at an early age. At the end of each day, after five hours' practice for his high school swim team, he would choke one down. His drink of choice "tasted awful, but it gave me energy, so I just kept drinking it," he says. Today, the 21-year-old junior at Indiana University is the founder of ZW Enterprises, which sells its own energy drink, Punch. After completing his freshman year, Workman threw himself into researching energy drinks. He identified what he saw as an unfilled gap in the market -- an energy drink that was made from natural ingredients and did not produce the crash effect common with sugary or highly caffeinated beverages. Working with a fruit-punch recipe that has been in his family for years, Workman came up with a drink that tasted good and satisfied the necessary dietary requirements.
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Caroline Rooney produced her first T-shirt design, with a "Peace and Love" theme, in her high school textile class. She wore the shirt throughout high school and then at the University of Michigan. Her friends wanted to know where she got the shirt, and when she told them, they asked her to make copies of it. "One of my friends basically gave me an ultimatum that said, 'We can't be friends anymore unless you have more of those shirts made,' " Rooney says. She promised the friend a shirt for his birthday and quickly realized it was more cost-effective to make 25 shirts than to make just one. The first run cost her $300 to produce and sold out immediately. "I thought to myself, Let's just see how this goes," she says. So, last year, Rooney launched The Bearon, a T-shirt line sold primarily through her own website and independent sales reps on six other college campuses, including the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Syracuse University, and Northwestern. The origin of the company's name is a bit embarrassing for Rooney. When she was a child, her family called her Care Bear. Then, after a series of summer internships unearthed her innate talent for business, her brother started to call her "the baron," as in "robber baron." The Bearon is a combination of the two nicknames and reflects something else -- Rooney wants to be a success in business, but she wants to do more than make money. The 19-year-old is donating 20 percent of the profit from every shirt sold to three charities: UNICEF, the Alzheimer's Foundation, and New York City's Public Art Fund.
Was I Wrong?
Check out the editorial cartoon [above] published in today's Democrat and Chronicle. Notice how a caricature of Nerobama seems to be missing? His likeness should be up there, right beside "Rod" and "Roland!!" Can there be one "clean politician" to come out of the Chicago Machine?? If ya play on the same street-ya get splashed with the same mud!!
Politicians Involved? Look For The Crooks!
ALBANY — Putting a new twist on a Democratic plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, a top Senate Democrat wants to cut income taxes for the middle class and provide the savings through a state-issued debit card to promote consumer spending. The proposal by Senate Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, is the latest attempt by the Democratic-led Legislature to tax the rich as a way to help the state's struggling economy. But unlike a Senate proposal earlier this month to raise taxes on those making $250,000 or more, Klein also wants to provide a middle-class tax cut by doubling the standard deduction when New Yorkers file their tax returns. The savings, estimated between $466 to $1,165 for those making under $250,000 a year, would be doled out in state-issued debit cards to be used like a "department store gift card" to promote spending, according to a report from Klein's office. The money would have to be spent this year.
Sidebar [The crooks work unabated!]:
For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there's a new twist to their financial pain: Even as they're collecting unemployment benefits, they're paying bank fees just to get access to their money. Thirty states have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase and US Bancorp. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 — even though they could decline charges for more than what's on the card. "It's a racket. It's a scam," said Rachel Davis, a 38-year-old dental technician from St. Louis who was laid off in October. Davis was given a MasterCard issued through Central Bank of Jefferson City and recently paid $6 to make two $40 withdrawals. The banks say their programs offer convenience. They also provide at least one way to tap the money at no charge, such as using a single free withdrawal to get all the cash at once from a bank teller. The fees are raising questions from lawmakers who just recently voted to infuse banks with taxpayer money to keep them afloat. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., a member of the House Financial Services Committee, said the situation points to "yet another example of how we need to regulate the ways in which banks charge overdraft and other fees. Banks, particularly ones that have received federal help, should not be imposing endless fees and charges on the unemployed in this time of economic crisis." But the potential is clear. In Missouri, for instance, 94,883 people claimed unemployment benefits through debit cards from Central Bank. Analysts say a recipient uses a card an average of six to 10 times a month. If each cardholder makes three withdrawals at an out-of-network ATM, at a fee of $1.75, the bank would collect nearly $500,000. If half of the cardholders also dial customer service three times in any given week (the first time is free; after that, it's 25 cents a call), the bank's revenue would jump to more than $521,000. That would yield $6.3 million a year. A typical contract looks like the agreement between Citigroup and the state of Kansas, which took effect in November. The state expects to save $300,000 a year by wiring payments to Citigroup instead of printing and mailing checks. Citigroup's bill to the state: zero. The bank collects its revenue from fees paid by merchants and the unemployed. "If you use your card the right way, you're not going to pay fees at all," said Paul Simpson, Citigroup's global head of public sector, health care and wholesale cards. But that's not always practical. Arthur Santa-Maria, a laid-off engineer who lives just outside Albuquerque, N.M., said he didn't pay any fees the first time he was laid off, for several months in 2007. His unemployment benefits were paid by paper checks. He found a new job last year but was laid off again last fall. This time, he was issued a Bank of America debit card — a "prepaid" card in industry lingo — but he was surprised to learn he had to pay fees to get his money. He asked the bank to waive them. It said no. That's when Santa-Maria called back to ask how to check his account online. He logged on and saw that the call cost him a half dollar. To avoid more fees, Santa-Maria found a Bank of America ATM at a strip mall and withdrew $80 at no charge. When he got back to his car, he decided to take out the rest of his money — $250 — and deposit it in his bank account. Afterward, Santa-Maria logged on to his account and saw a charge of $1.50 for two withdrawals in one day.
There ARE Jobs Out There! THERESA, Wis. - At a time when some people are having trouble finding one job, Daniel Seddiqui is lining up 50 -- one in every state. Each job symbolizes the state's most famous industry, and each lasts one week -- just long enough for the 26-year-old to appreciate the labor and explore the region. He's been a park ranger in Wyoming, a corn farmer in Nebraska and a wedding coordinator in Las Vegas. Last week, in Week 23 of his yearlong saga, he was a cheesemaker in southeast Wisconsin. He mixed ingredients, hoisted slabs of cheddar -- and tasted plenty of his work. "I would say this was as hard as logging," he said Friday, referring to his stint as a logger in Oregon three months ago. "Everything here is done by hand so there's a lot of heavy lifting." Seddiqui, who grew up in Los Altos, Calif., insists his job-hopping isn't a gimmick. It's a legitimate effort to travel the U.S., learning about cultures across the country and developing a respect for what other people do, he said. For example, at his Nebraska job he was surprised that every farmer he met had a college degree. "That's the problem with stereotypes. People think farmers aren't educated, but probably every one was more educated than me," he said. "That's the kind of thing you learn when you do this." The hardest job so far was toiling in a meatpacking factory in Topeka, Kan. Seddiqui (pronounced seh-DEE'-kee) said his employer gave him the option of slaughtering a cow with a rifle shot to the head, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "That was a little too extreme," he said. "But they didn't really expect me to do it. They just said I could if I wanted." The goal of his project, which he plans to write a book about when he's done, was to force himself out of his comfort zone. By daring himself to try all sorts of crazy jobs -- rodeo announcer, border-patrol agent, archaeologist -- other people might be willing to follow his example, he said. At least one person has already been inspired, according to Seddiqui. After a news crew in Kansas City, Mo., reported on his stint as a boilermaker, an unemployed dentist who saw the story decided to brush off his old welding skills and apply. The next day the man had a $40-per-hour job, Seddiqui said. Seddiqui tries to line up jobs only three to four months in advance. Following his week in Wisconsin, he has his next eight weeks charted, starting with a position at the John Deere headquarters Monday in Moline, Ill. He lined up his cheesemaking position by Googling "cheese factory Wisconsin." He found Widmer's Cheese Cellars in Theresa, about 50 miles northwest of Milwaukee, and called owner Joe Widmer. After studying Seddiqui's Web site Widmer decided to give the young man a chance. He also figured Seddiqui's story would provide some free local publicity, but he was stunned when reporters from national media, including a documentary film crew from South Korea, showed up. "He took this seriously from the beginning," Widmer said of Seddiqui. "He was assertive, inquisitive and we got along real well." Seddiqui earned an economics degree from the University of Southern California in 2005. But he struggled to find a job, despite a 3.7 grade-point average. He couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. His parents -- an Afghani father and Irish-Italian mother -- even took him to a psychologist to find out what he was doing wrong in interviews. As he took volunteer jobs at universities in Illinois and Virginia, he reminisced about his childhood desires to travel. In elementary school he loved to stare at U.S. road maps and imagine how it felt to live in all those cities. Finally he decided to combine those boyhood dreams with his job search. Now, in his words, he's "living the map." His approach impressed Shawn Peck, the sales and marketing director at Metal Craft in Elk River, Minn., Seddiqui's fifth stop. The company makes medical devices, such as those used in spinal surgery, and Seddiqui's job included using lasers to etch part numbers. "He's a really nice guy who's interested in what he's doing," Peck said. "If he wanted a full-time job here, in the departments where you don't need lot of training and education, sure, we'd be interested." Seddiqui gets paid at every job but he buys his own health insurance. He has no dental insurance, and hopes a recent bout of wisdom-tooth pain won't resurface before he finds full-time work. Each of his weekly employers provides room and board, usually in the owners' own home. Seddiqui drives from one state to another, and has put 17,000 miles on his 1997 Jeep Cherokee since his adventures began in September. He plans to sell the vehicle in Maine to buy plane tickets to Hawaii, where he'll teach surfing despite never having surfed before, and Alaska, where he'll be a cruise director. Of his remaining 27 jobs, he's most looking forward to being a meteorologist in Cleveland. But he's a little wary of the West Virginia job he'll have at the end of May. "I'll be a coal miner. That'll be a little scary," he said. "I'm not looking forward to that one at all."
The Big Mouths Unite!
[Given Wease's liberal views, I wonder if Bob will be promoting his "FUBO" concept on their first show?] LiveWire Studios at Roc Centre uses a concept perfected by zoos all across the world. A live broadcast in which passersby on the sidewalk and radio talkers Lonsberry and Brother Wease will be separated by glass windows. Wease (Liberalis pornographus) and Bob Lonsberry (Conservatus bowtie-us) [www.lonsberry.com] will be doing more than sharing the space. A segment is in development — just a taped 15-minute confrontation, actually — that pits the left-leaning Wease against righty Lonsberry. Plans are to air the first installment of the battle of the Clear Channel personalities at 12:20 p.m. Saturday on Lonsberry's station, WHAM-AM (1180). "They wanted us to start a show when I get back, and I'm really quite apprehensive about it," Wease said from Florida on Friday, where he has been vacationing. "I'm very emotional about this stuff." He reads several conservative newsletters each day, including Lonsberry's, and noted, "Their mission every single day is to tear down the Obama administration. This country is gonna fall in the toilet, on the back of people that claim to be patriots."
Lonsberry gets first crack at the studio, with his show scheduled to air at 11 a.m. today on WHAM-AM (1180). Wease's debut there is set for 6 a.m. Tuesday, on WFXF, 95.1-"The Fox." And that's fine with Wease if Lonsberry goes first. "Who knows if this is gonna work?" he said of the complex studio technology. "If it doesn't, he can always go to a commercial break and run back" [...to the WHAM studios].
Til Nex'Time....

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