Friday, January 02, 2009
That and $4.60 will getcha a cuppa Joe
bad Joe, but, hey - these are hard times...
Whaddya want - eggs in yer beer?!?
If you expect you’ll be getting a refund from California when you file your 2008 state income tax return, be prepared: you may instead receive a “registered warrant.” Translation: an IOU.
I’ll try sending in the same.
The Controller’s office expects that hourly state employees would continue to receive paychecks. But IOUs could be issued to elected state officials, including legislators ...
Ok - now we’re talkin’. And their $178 per diem? and their $500/ month car allowance?
"We’ve made very little progress the past couple of weeks,” said Aaron McClear, an aide to Gov. Schwarzenegger [who makes over $100,000/year], while the Governor was away from the capital on a holiday vacation.
Yeah - you heard me: 10 “aides” worth earning getting over $100K/year. Just for Ahnold. Who takes just $1/year for his ‘pay.’
In 1992, banks honored the state’s IOUs, cashing them on demand, and then receiving an additional 5% from the state when it made good on the obligations. In effect, the IOUs served the state as unsecured bridge loans from banks.
Fiscal Planning—CA style....
Those who could be most affected are taxpayers who routinely plan for large refunds as a means of saving for anticipated expenses, ...
Yep—those are the ‘tards who vote in CA.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
ToDaZeD Ironing
rly?
Barack gets it: but does Barack?
This Barack Obama, 26, a cousin who was named after the president-elect’s Kenyan father, was elated when someone with African roots rose to the world’s most powerful job.
“I felt I could do anything,” said the lanky student, whose buddies now call him “the President” after his famous U.S. relative. “I felt anything is possible.”
...As the American Obama’s success is institutionalized in pictures hanging in schools and buses and in speeches in parliament promoting change, many are coming to see his against-the-odds accomplishment as
something that was really only possible in the United States...."The hope might be false,” said youth activist Joshua Nyamori. “Today Obama’s story is not possible in Kenya. If Barack ran in Kenya, he would have failed.”
...In Africa, money, ethnicity and family connections still count more toward success than does hard work. Bribes usually trump talent; corruption tops integrity.
...
From the campus of Sen. Barack Obama Secondary School to Obama’s ancestral homestead, teachers, parents and elders wag their fingers at the young, repeating the mantra: See what can happen if you work hard?
Yeah. Work hard and move to America, Land of those Stupid, Old White Men Whose Values We Hope to Change: The Founding Fathers.
Nyamori, the youth activist, ... said it might be another generation before Kenya offers the same opportunities found in the U.S.
uhm… no.
InauguHorz
“WaPo"—the sound adulation makes when it hits a wall
Cheep trinkets for the natives.
WashingtonPost Media is at the epicenter of the inauguration, [*puff*puff*] and the Classifieds team is giving readers the chance to send a personal message of congratulations to President-Elect Obama that can be read by millions. The announcements can be placed though the call center or online, with prices starting at $10 for the combo. TWP anticipates about 2,500 - 3,000 announcements will be posted
Lesseee.... carry the one… $25,000 - $30,000 or more? Nice work for some random preying on the brain-addled messes ink.
Caveat: “All ads must be congratulatory in nature...”
Jim Treacher has one. Think it’ll fly?
Calling to Mind The 7 'P's of the FBI
the Boughten Junior Senator from ILL
Citing “divine providence,” Roland Burris [71] [D-Ill] is da winnah the appointee for the Senate seat Uh-bama left behind.
“People said I was either crazy or divinely directed. I accept the latter,"
He also accepted the appointment.
[Burris] said. “I believe without a doubt that I am predestined to be a role model."
A role model for Prior Planning, at least.
*close-up here*
That’s what’s awaiting him—and his children, Roland II and Rolanda—at an unnamed cemetery in ChiTown… or somewhere… according to a typically well-researched piece at Wonkette by a corespondent named “Vasyl.” [do NOT tell me the feminine derivative of that name]
Aside from his attachment to inopportune bus stops monuments, speaking of hizownse’f in the third person, and madd George Foreman-esque naming skilz, Burris is also known for… uhm… sticking to his guns. In the face of popular opinion, facts, reason ...and DNA evidence.
Mr Burris’ appointment has already caused a tiny kerfluffle wherein the Ill Secy of State refused to sign his Certificate of Appointment.
Should Burris appear in Washington without that certification, armed police officers stand ready to bar him from the Senate floor, said a Democratic official briefed on Senate leaders’ plans.
Uh oh.
Bobby Rush [D-Ill] [the man who called Obama an “educated fool” after he defeated him in a 2000 House race]... ignited the news conference yesterday, saying, “I would ask you not to hang or lynch the appointee as you try to casitgate the appointor,"
Bar. Lynch. Same diff.
I’m sure Mr Burris’ tenure in The World’s Most Exclusive Club will provide a fine example of ChiTown bag men Chicago-style leadership and Illinois Values. Mr Burris “enjoy[s] cartoons and dancing."
And We Wonder Why We're Broke
wait… no. we know.
CA is due to go [financially] Tango Uniform some time in early February. We’ll likely hafta call it “Feb” cuz we can’t afford the rest of the letters.
So what does the CA legislature spend its time on? Useful, constructive confabulations of flummery like this one:
...so as not to burden its citizenry with potentially enlightening science, the Governator’s State has conveniently lumped all “Greenhouse gases (ghg) emitted from vehicles includ[ing] carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (NO2), and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs) from air conditioner refrigerant” together into one “CO2 equivalent Value.”
...But given all its artifice, “CO2 Equivalent Score” lacks the magical connection sought by the legislation’s makers. So, having successfully misrepresented an amalgam of gases as one, the next challenge was to label arbitrary output ranges of that arbitrary blend as a vehicle’s “Global Warming Score."
...which they then will attach—on a scale of 1 to 10—to each new vehicle sold in the state. Flaunting the “traditional wisdom” that “less is more,” 10 is the optimum, most desirable score. Or the prime gullibility indicator. Whatever. Especially since, according to Mary Nichols, Chairwoman of the same California Air Resources Board,
”...Consumer choice is an especially powerful tool in our fight against climate change."
Yes. We have an “Air Resources Board.” And a “Water Resources Board.” Which seems to indicate that California stands firm in its conviction that it ALL belongs to The State.
Senator Shack
The *Caretaker*
Sen. Bill Clinton? ... The former president is among several boldface names being touted as possible “caretakers” for New York’s Senate seat ...
Gofers? Meh… Hsu cares?
What could possibly go wrong?
duck!
[cue movie-guy voice] In a World… Where Auto Companies Are… Nationalized… for Hundreds… On The Dollar....
[cue screams f/x]
[Connecticut lawmaker Frank Nicastro] and fellow legislators want the papers to survive, and petitioned the state government to do something about it. “The media is a vitally important part of America,” he said...
Uhm… didn’t there used to be this concept that, if a business failed, that would create an available market niche which someone else would spot and fill? Even, perhaps, fill better than the old business had?
Or was that just some kind of Great Experiment dream…
Oh. Ok. Consolidate ‘em. That’ll fix it fer sure.
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{/if}
