Friday, September 30, 2011

'Moderate' Meets Maker

'Moderate' Meets Maker - WSJ.com
The Yemeni Air Force has attacked America, or so you might have thought if you'd read the Associated Press's technically true but misleading headline this morning: "2 US Citizens Dead in Yemen Airstrike."
It was actually a CIA airstrike in Yemen, and the targets, Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, were unlawful enemy combatants who happened to be U.S. citizens by accident of birth.

Youth league institutes TD limit to hold back 11-year-old

Y! SPORTS
11-year-old Demias Jimerson has emerged as such a dominant running back that the Wilson Intermediate Football League he plays in has reinstated a bylaw called the "Madre Hill rule," which bars him from scoring a touchdown if he has already scored three times and his team has a lead of 14 points or more .

The rule is named after former University of Arkansas star and Oakland Raider Madre Hill , who, like Jimerson, played youth football in the Malvern, Ark., area. Hill proved so adept at getting the ball into the end zone whenever he touched it that the WIFL came up with the rule to try and keep scores from getting too out of hand.

Now it has brought the same statute back for Jimerson, saying that the rule isn't meant to punish him, but rather to ensure that the other 21 players on the field stay involved .

"The other players on both teams, 21 are just left sort of, this is all Demias," WIFL commissioner Terri Bryant, who is also Jimerson's Intermediate School principal, told Fox 16. "So that's why the Madre Hill Rule has been implemented.

This lame-brained loser is a school principal?
No wonder our kids are such wimps!

Under new federal program, all Muskegon Heights students get free meals

Under new federal program, all Muskegon Heights students get free meals MLive.com
Every student in the Muskegon Heights school district can now eat nutritious breakfasts and lunches for free under a new federal program that won't cost the district anything.
Michigan is one of three states chosen to pilot the Community Eligibility Option that eliminates the need for students' parents to apply for free or reduced-price lunches.

Employers hit by unemployment tax hikes

Employers hit by unemployment tax hikes
And this is only the first of two tax spikes employers are contending with, on both the state and federal level. Come January, companies in 24 states could have to shell out between $21 and $63 more per employee in federal unemployment taxes.

These hikes are the latest in a series of unemployment tax increases as states look to replenish their unemployment trust funds devastated by the Great Recession.
Last year, employers paid 27.8% more in state jobless taxes, said Doug Holmes, president, UWC Strategic Services on Unemployment & Workers' Compensation, a business trade association.
"Unemployment taxes, which were a relatively low bottom-line cost in 2008, are now becoming a significant cost," Holmes said.
 "It discourages companies from electing to hire new employees."

FINALLY: The One-Step Super Easy Facebook Privacy Fix

Joe Peacock: FINALLY: The One-Step Super Easy Facebook Privacy Fix

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Useless teacher “professional development” classes cost California taxpayers billions in increased salaries and pensions.

Gaming the Los Angeles Teachers’ Contract « Union Watch
Useless teacher “professional development” classes cost California taxpayers billions in increased salaries and pensions.

“With California reeling fiscally and education eating up about half of its budget, the state’s taxpayers are being hoodwinked to the tune of billions of dollars by an outrageous contractual perk that pays teachers to take useless classes, ostensibly with the aim of improving their classroom work.”

Ethically Challenged Funds Push Diversity!

Ethically Challenged Funds Push Diversity! CalWatchDog
The nation’s two largest pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), have been plagued by problems and allegations of mismanagement and even corruption in the case of CalPERS, and yet these systems continue to lecture the private sector on ethical corporate governance.
The latest nonsense, released earlier this week, is a plan funded by the two systems to promote “diversity” in board rooms, by which they mean diverse ethnic and gender backgrounds rather than diverse viewpoints about the sanity of the current pension system.

Chevy Volt sales don't have expected spark

Chevy Volt sales don't have expected spark - chicagotribune.com
By the end of August, the last time GM publicly announced its sales, about 3,500 Volts had been sold.

Kindle e-Reader with Wi-Fi, 6" Display

Kindle e-Reader with Wi-Fi, 6" Display
Compare Kindles

Bill Buckner Strikes Again

Bill Buckner Strikes Again - NYTimes.com

Rancor Grows Over Planned Oil Pipeline From Canada

Rancor Grows Over Planned Oil Pipeline From Canada - NYTimes.com

What will happen when Michigan begins cutting off welfare next month?

What will happen when Michigan begins cutting off welfare next month? MLive.com
The tougher welfare rules come five years after then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm approved a 48-month time limit for cash welfare assistance.

Effort to recall Michigan governor fizzles

Report: Effort to recall Michigan governor fizzles MLive.com
The Detroit Free Press on Wednesday cited an e-mail from campaign spokesman Tom Bryant saying "the recall effort will be coming to an end."

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Progression

Read this 1st (remember the name of the letter writer):
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/06/letters_many_people_made_cance.html

Read this next!:
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/09/ready_to_edit_holland_woman_fa.html

Odds Favor GOP Gaining Senate Control in 2012

RealClearPolitics - Odds Favor GOP Gaining Senate Control in 2012

Tossup: Bill Nelson (Florida), Debbie Stabenow (Mich.), Claire McCaskill (Mo.), Jon Tester (Mont.), Virginia (open; Jim Webb is retiring), Wisconsin (open; Herb Kohl is retiring).

.....In 2006, Michigan looked like it would be competitive until September or so.
Stabenow pulled away against fairly weak competition and won handily.
This time, the environment is much worse for Democrats. Her opposition isn’t top-notch, but her approval ratings have been well below 50 percent in a state that swung heavily toward Republicans in 2010.

A Short History of the Income Tax

John Steele Gordon: A Short History of the Income Tax - WSJ.com
The new president, Woodrow Wilson, and the strongly Democratic Congress promptly passed a personal income tax.
It kicked in at 1% on incomes above $3,000 (a comfortable upper middle-class income at the time) and reached 7% on incomes over $500,000.
But there were many deductions, bringing the effective tax rates down sharply from the marginal ones—a feature of the tax system ever since.

US Has More Serious Problems Than Europe

US Has More Serious Problems Than Europe: Jim Rogers - CNBC
"Europe has a few bad, bankrupt states, so does America.
We've got Illinois which is bigger than Greece, we've got California, we've got New York, you know those are pretty big states that have serious economic problems.
We have pension plans in America that are terribly under water," Rogers told CNBC on Tuesday.

According to Rogers, the U.S. has deeper structural problems than Europe as well as higher debt levels.

"Europe's got some bad problems but the entity as a whole is not nearly as deep in debt as the U.S.
They don't have a huge balance of trade deficit, like we do," Rogers said.

UC Berkeley Republicans hold 'Diversity Bake Sale'

UC Berkeley Republicans hold 'Diversity Bake Sale' - Forbes.com
A satirical bake sale at the University of California, Berkeley, that was designed to protest affirmative action drew several dozen sweet-toothed supporters along with hundreds of critics Tuesday.