A New York Times article by Nick Bunkley on Friday targeted for print on Saturday about the status of contract talks between Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers piqued my interest in a previously neglected but important matter.
Ford and the UAW are apparently close to an agreement. In describing what Ford workers are being asked to give up, Bunkley wrote the following (bolds are mine throughout this post):
Ford executives have said the company needs more concessions to keep G.M. and Chrysler from having an advantage.
…. The deal that U.A.W. workers at Ford approved in March got rid of cost-of-living pay increases and performance bonuses through 2010 and eliminated the jobs bank program, which allows laid-off workers to continue receiving most of their pay. In addition to those concessions, G.M. and Chrysler workers agreed to work-rule changes and a provision that bars them from striking.
What? From press coverage at the time, you would have thought that unionized GM and Chrysler workers made ginormous, humungous, unprecedented sacrifices to enable their companies to get through bankruptcy and to emerge as lean, mean vehicle-making machines.
Uh, no. What follows is a picture of the top portion of the first page of a “contract outline” presented by the union to its members shortly before the changes therein were ratified (full outline in PDF format is here; HT WSJ’s Deal Journal blog):
This was on one of the first LPs I ever bought. Years later I head them in concert. THEY STUNK! (STANK? ;-) It could have been the venue - the stadium where the 76ers played - but still, they should have been professional enough to adjust the sound to the place...
littleoldlady said... Alrighty, Pi Guy. HOW did you do that?!
I was wondering if anyone would catch that. :)
I typed in what's called an "HTML name" for the < and > symbols.
An HTML name always starts with an ampersand (&), and finishes with a semi-colon.
For example, if you write < (the "lt" means "less than") in the comments box, it appears as a < in the post. Not surprisingly, > results in the "greater than" symbol: >.
To get the above "a href" command to appear right, I had to type the following in the comment box:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw">ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton</a>
...so that it would appear like this in the post:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw">ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton</a>
Don't ask me to explain how I did this post. It just gets more convoluted.
Some of the progressives who helped put Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in power are demanding that they come down hard on House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel and any Senate committee chairmen who stray from the flock on health care reform.
Don’t hold your breath.
While three Democratic insiders say leaders have privately discussed the possibility of ousting Rangel or asking him to step aside, there has been no move to approach the New York Democrat — and aides to Pelosi have made it clear that she won’t do anything about him until the House Ethics Committee finishes its probe.
That doesn’t sit well with Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington, two stars of the liberal blogosphere who’ve joined House Republicans in calling for Rangel’s ouster.
Reality smacked Democrats upside the head as health insurance companies made plain the obvious: The more you require insurance companies to do, the more insurance will cost.
Duh.
“At the heart of the industry’s complaint is a decision by lawmakers to weaken the requirement that millions more Americans get coverage. Since the legislation would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on account of poor health, many people will wait to sign up until they get sick, the industry says. And that will drive up costs for everybody else,” Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the Associated Press reported.
Duh.
“The drama threatened to overshadow Tuesday’s scheduled vote by the Senate Finance Committee on a 10-year, $829-billion plan that Baucus has touted as the sensible solution to America’s problems of high medical costs and too many uninsured,” AP reported.
Duh.
Let’s see, President Obama and a Democratic Congress want to reform health insurance without any input from health insurance companies.
And they are surprised to see their plan unravel?
“We’ve got ourselves a real health care shooting war now,” said Robert Laszewski, a former health insurance executive turned consultant. “The industry has come to the conclusion that the way things are going in Congress, we’ll have a… formula that will be disastrous for their business, so they can’t stand on the sidelines any longer.”
Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller denied this reality.
Known in the 1960s and 70s as one of the Middle East's more permissive societies, Iraq grew slowly more conservative during years of war, sanctions and hardship, a trend accelerated after 2003 as deep divisions over identity bubbled to the surface.
In the dark days of sectarian carnage in 2006-07, women didn't leave home without carrying a headscarf. Young men and women thought twice before being seen together outside.
"When the religious militias were active and the range of sectarian violence was top ... most people suddenly adopted religious ideas, clothes, appearance and even behavior," said Jamal, a security guard who has been working close to a Baghdad park once famous as a spot for lovers' trysts.
"When the security situation improved and militias disappeared, the people also responded to these changes."
Since 2008, violence has fallen drastically, and Iraqi youths have celebrated by putting on tight jeans and shirts, removing headscarves and taking on new styles.
Born with only half a brain, Mack can speak normally, graduated from high school and has an uncanny knack for dates.
At 27, doctors determined that the right side of her brain had essentially rewired itself to make up for function that was likely lost during pre-birth stroke.
... Michelle Mack is now 37 and lives with her mother and father. She works from home doing data entry for her church. She is fairly independent, pays rent and can do most household chores. She realizes she'll need help for the rest of her life but wanted to tell her story to make it clear that she is not helpless.
I know a lot of people (53% of the voters in this country, as an example) who have 1/2 a brain and don't function nearly as well as this woman!
Wynn used to have a presence in A.C., too. When he left it "looked" like failure, but a lot of people figured it was more like shrewd business.
Meanwhile, Trump WAS building something HUGE right next door to my mom's condo building in Hollywood, FL. The last time we were there all work had stopped cold.
Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.
And then what? Obama makes pretend that MAD will work with the Mad Mullahs? Unless we use it, or give it to the Israelis to use, this is wasted energy...
With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.
While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of gas-leveraged Russian domination of the former Soviet bloc. With its gas wealth and eyebrow-raising network of personal ties, Russia has divided members of the European Union that have vowed to act collectively to protect their security
Why worry? I'm sure Obama will guarantee your securi....Oh. Wait.
The Obama administration is taking on Cheerios. And popular cold remedies and swimming pool drains and rhinestones on children's clothing.
With much of Washington focused on efforts to revamp the health-care system and address climate change, a handful of Obama appointees have been quietly exercising their power over the trappings of daily life. They are awakening a vast regulatory apparatus with authority over nearly every U.S. workplace, 15,000 consumer products, and most items found in kitchen pantries and medicine cabinets.
lol, callahan. Well feeling better is subjective I think. Will see how the rest of the day goes before I give any judgement. The sleep was a good start I think
On October 2 the U.S. Labor Department released its September 2009 jobs report. The sycophants in the mainstream media breathed a sigh of relief that only 263,000 people lost their jobs and the unemployment rate went up a slight .1%. Per the same Labor Department report the current labor force is: 154,006,000 and those employed are 138,864,000, thus the unemployment rate of 9.8%.
However, per a projected Labor Force Change Report the Labor Department predicts the labor force will be 157,721,000 by the end of 2010 and 162,822,000 by the end of 2015.
To maintain the same unemployment rate as we have now (9.8%) the economy would have to create over 3,000,000 new jobs by the end of 2010 and 7,700,000 new jobs by the end of 2015. (Note 1)
This cannot be done as long as the private sector is hamstrung by new taxes and regulations and the annual government deficits continue in the near trillion dollar range for the next ten years.
I don't know whether to say, "Isn't that interesting?" or to quote Pi Guy...DUH!
Less than a week after Turkey informed Israel that it was unwelcome in the Anatolian Eagle military exercise, 10 Turkish ministers are scheduled to travel to Syria on Tuesday to take part in a meeting of the newly formed Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
Turkey thought that by excluding Israel they could gain an advantage. Turns out that the U.S. and (I think it was) Italy saw no reason to hold the exercises WITHOUT Israel, so the whole thing was canceled.
As I said at the time, "Who benefits from this?" Certainly NOT Turkey!
Geesh...well at least with word out Obama's committing 13k to Afghanistan our friggin weak-kneed gop can concentrate of defeating ObamaCrap. The possibility of that passing is terrifying from my perspective - people are pissed and that Noble bs was like a collision of reality and surrealism.
The islamic-nationalist party in Turkey certainly is out to stir up some trouble. Bit by bit they reduce their chances of becoming a member of the EU plus they have begun to shun former allies.
The possibility of that passing is terrifying from my perspective
Mine too, enuff! :-(
We can potentially fix nearly every damaging idea Obama is pushing through, including crap and trade, by repealing, revoking, whatever. But I fear this healthcare legislation will be IMPOSSIBLE to undo. :-(
We're going to have to watch Turkey very closely with the likely prospect of Iran becoming fully nuclear. As a regional power Turkey could have countered Iran, the possibility now exists for a strong alliance between the two states.
The thing is (I HOPE this is still true!) the Turkish military is a lot less radical than the government, and has maintained close ties with their Israel counterparts during the political fiasco that's been going on.
I don't know what this means, or will mean, if (WHEN) the poop hits the oscillating mechanism...
Lol, exactamente about Ocrap. I'd expect a complete unraveling of world expectation(s) and our future economic stability if the damned thing passes. The dollar's on the line right now....
Hey, I heard that President Obama has won the Heisman Trophy in college football, the Cy Young award in the major leagues, and the Most Valuable Player of the NFL.
Well, he's done about as much in those pursuits as he has for world peace.
In market news, look for the market to open flat today as investors sit back and look for momentum in the market. One more thing to look out for is that valuations are now at about 19 times earnings, which is quite high. When the market run up started valuations were at about 11 times earnings and stocks were a bargain. But at 19 times earnings it's a different story, and the investors out there need to start seeing some high return on investment numbers (like 15% or so) in order to justify those valuations.
I had the same reaction when I returned home from my trip on Friday night to read a single-line item on the Counterterrorism Blog: “Switzerland: Terror cops arrest Collider scientist linked with al-Qaeda,” it said. The Collider is the largest nuclear research facility in the world. For at least the next forty-eight hours the story did not appear anywhere in the U.S. press, despite the fact that the arrested nuclear scientist, a 32-year-old Algerian-born French man named Dr. Adlene Hicheur, was being described by France’s Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence as a “very high-level” operative with AQIM. That’s the same group who’d been experimenting with bubonic plague earlier in the year.
Lloyds is exiting the asset protection program in the UK.
Lloyds Said to Face 2 Billion-Pound Fee to Exit APS
"Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, would have to pay as much as 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) to end its participation in the government program aimed at insuring potentially troubled assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person, who declined to be named because talks between the bank and government are confidential, said the fee to opt out of the Asset Protection Scheme would be higher than the 1 billion pounds earlier reported by the Daily Telegraph and may reach 2 billion pounds.
The bank has submitted a plan to the Financial Services Authority to raise 15 billion pounds in a share sale, a separate person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified, said on Oct. 8. Under the plan, the lender would also sell assets to raise money."
Sounds like they don;t want much to do with their government overlords either.
Therefore, it is not correct to impose political meanings to Turkey's decision to cancel the international part of the multi-national Anatolian Eagle air defense exercise."
WOW. The spin, oh the spin!
/centrifuges aren't the only thing spinning in the Middle East!
Gold Hits New Record High as Dollar Slips http://www.cnbc.com/id/33288209
"Gold rose to a record high at $1,063.60 an ounce on Tuesday as the dollar slipped against the euro, increasing the metal's appeal as an alternative asset.
Firmer oil prices and an improvement in physical demand for gold [US@GC.1 1068.4 11.7001 (+1.11%) ] after a sluggish year for jewellery buying are also lifting gold prices."
As you probably figured out, I don't buy that business of not reading anything into the cancellation. I'm afraid our defense and foreign ministries are doing some wishful thinking as part of damage control.
Hey Cubs fans!, The Chicago Cubs are filing bankruptcy today. It's a technical step they are taking to enable them to be sold, but still, this is so "Cubs".
The organization's talent evaluation ability has been pretty much bankrupt for over 100 years now, so it kind of fits.
But doesn't it seem that Turkey has also damaged its relations with the US and Europe in the process? Sure, we don't need another Islamist country - especially one with such advanced technology enjoyed by its military...
(Oy. The more I think about it, the worse it gets!)
What percentage of the population of Turkey is secular (or Westernized) do you think? And will this create a backlash, at least something akin to the protests in Iran?
"Somebody would have to be crazy not to hire you!"
Very kind of you to say.
Funny thing, I was in a meeting the other day with regard to my job that is ending, and the suit running the meeting kept on referring to me with regard to projects to be worked on next spring, and I had to keep reminding him that they eliminated my job and I won't be around in the spring, remember?
It got to be humorous, Others were in the meeting and you could hear a pin drop.
I may not reply until tonight. For some reason I can receive email on my laptop at the restaurant, but I can not send. I usually have to wait until I arrive back home to reply.
May have to contact my ISP about that today...very strange.
I look forward to your email and have a wonderful day.
Help yourselves!
Fruitcup is here! Yummy!
ReplyDeletelittleoldlady - you're like a professional blogger!
ReplyDelete(What's today?) TUESDAY!
ReplyDeleteThank you, littleoldlady!
ReplyDelete'Morning, Pi Guy! :-)
ReplyDeleteCC! :-)
I'm nuttin' without my trusty template! LOL.
/a girl can get spoiled around here, and fast! ;-)
BatGuano! :-)
ReplyDeleteMulti-tasking...that's another story. ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi littleoldlady.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fruit-cup.
Happy Happy.
littleoldlady,
ReplyDeleteMy first attempt to post a video at this site.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw
SYRAH! :-) Hi!
ReplyDeleteDidn't work. I'm such a screw up.
ReplyDeleteBat,
ReplyDeleteHere's the html for a hotlink:
<*a* href="URL here">Link Title Here<*/a*>
Remove the asterisks. Now you try it!
Well-Kept Media Secret: UAW Conceded No Base Pay, Health, or Pension Benefits in GM, Chrysler Bankruptcy Run-ups
ReplyDeleteA New York Times article by Nick Bunkley on Friday targeted for print on Saturday about the status of contract talks between Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers piqued my interest in a previously neglected but important matter.
Ford and the UAW are apparently close to an agreement. In describing what Ford workers are being asked to give up, Bunkley wrote the following (bolds are mine throughout this post):
Ford executives have said the company needs more concessions to keep G.M. and Chrysler from having an advantage.
…. The deal that U.A.W. workers at Ford approved in March got rid of cost-of-living pay increases and performance bonuses through 2010 and eliminated the jobs bank program, which allows laid-off workers to continue receiving most of their pay. In addition to those concessions, G.M. and Chrysler workers agreed to work-rule changes and a provision that bars them from striking.
What? From press coverage at the time, you would have thought that unionized GM and Chrysler workers made ginormous, humungous, unprecedented sacrifices to enable their companies to get through bankruptcy and to emerge as lean, mean vehicle-making machines.
Uh, no. What follows is a picture of the top portion of the first page of a “contract outline” presented by the union to its members shortly before the changes therein were ratified (full outline in PDF format is here; HT WSJ’s Deal Journal blog):
Read the whole thing.
Link Title Here
ReplyDeleteBatGuano said...
ReplyDeleteLink Title Here
Not bad, but the description needs work.
;)
Pi Guy,
ReplyDeleteAnd look what it got them. NO COMPANY at all for Chrysler, and I have no doubt GM will hit the skids soon enough.
Tell me why they were collecting their pay (job bank?)when laid off. Weren't they eligible for unemployment comp? Or were they collecting both?
Bat,
ReplyDeleteThat worked! The mechanics of it, anyway. ;-)
"Not bad, but the description needs work.
ReplyDelete;)"
Yeah, I don't know what do about that. HTML is teh hard.
"That worked! The mechanics of it, anyway. ;-)"
ReplyDeleteBeat up on the new guy, why don't you? :)
BatGuano said...
ReplyDelete"Not bad, but the description needs work.
;)"
Yeah, I don't know what do about that. HTML is teh hard.
It's not that bad. Typing this:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw">ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton</a>
...will result in this:
ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton
Jumping the gun!
ReplyDeleteThis was on one of the first LPs I ever bought. Years later I head them in concert. THEY STUNK! (STANK? ;-) It could have been the venue - the stadium where the 76ers played - but still, they should have been professional enough to adjust the sound to the place...
Alrighty, Pi Guy. HOW did you do that?!
ReplyDelete...and now, we go from a music video featuring Diane Keaton, to a music video directed by Diane Keaton:
ReplyDeleteBelinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteAlrighty, Pi Guy. HOW did you do that?!
I was wondering if anyone would catch that.
:)
I typed in what's called an "HTML name" for the < and > symbols.
An HTML name always starts with an ampersand (&), and finishes with a semi-colon.
For example, if you write < (the "lt" means "less than") in the comments box, it appears as a < in the post. Not surprisingly, > results in the "greater than" symbol: >.
To get the above "a href" command to appear right, I had to type the following in the comment box:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw">ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton</a>
...so that it would appear like this in the post:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcbDNL6regw">ANNIE HALL - Diane Keaton</a>
Don't ask me to explain how I did this post. It just gets more convoluted.
Here's a chart showing all the HTML names and numbers.
I'd better get some news up here, or I may get fired! ;-)
ReplyDeleteFOOD FIGHT!
Some of the progressives who helped put Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in power are demanding that they come down hard on House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel and any Senate committee chairmen who stray from the flock on health care reform.
Don’t hold your breath.
While three Democratic insiders say leaders have privately discussed the possibility of ousting Rangel or asking him to step aside, there has been no move to approach the New York Democrat — and aides to Pelosi have made it clear that she won’t do anything about him until the House Ethics Committee finishes its probe.
That doesn’t sit well with Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington, two stars of the liberal blogosphere who’ve joined House Republicans in calling for Rangel’s ouster.
Heh™
Goodnight, everyone.
ReplyDelete(Somehow I KNEW I would be sorry I asked! ;-)
ReplyDeleteBookmarked the cheatsheet, thanks Pi Guy! :-)
My problem is...I learn one html trick and forget TWO at the same time... :-/
'Night, Bat Guano! :-)
ReplyDeletePractice, practice, practice!
/The Carnegie Hall Method ;-)
Good night, BG!
ReplyDeleteSome news to help out littleoldlady:
ReplyDeleteAP: Dems scramble after warning from health insurers
Reality smacked Democrats upside the head as health insurance companies made plain the obvious: The more you require insurance companies to do, the more insurance will cost.
Duh.
“At the heart of the industry’s complaint is a decision by lawmakers to weaken the requirement that millions more Americans get coverage. Since the legislation would ban insurance companies from denying coverage on account of poor health, many people will wait to sign up until they get sick, the industry says. And that will drive up costs for everybody else,” Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of the Associated Press reported.
Duh.
“The drama threatened to overshadow Tuesday’s scheduled vote by the Senate Finance Committee on a 10-year, $829-billion plan that Baucus has touted as the sensible solution to America’s problems of high medical costs and too many uninsured,” AP reported.
Duh.
Let’s see, President Obama and a Democratic Congress want to reform health insurance without any input from health insurance companies.
And they are surprised to see their plan unravel?
“We’ve got ourselves a real health care shooting war now,” said Robert Laszewski, a former health insurance executive turned consultant. “The industry has come to the conclusion that the way things are going in Congress, we’ll have a… formula that will be disastrous for their business, so they can’t stand on the sidelines any longer.”
Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller denied this reality.
---------------------
Video: Steve Wynn vs. Jennifer Granholm
Steve Wynn is the guy who built the Mirage and Treasure Island casinos in Las Vegas. He sold those, and currently owns the Wynn and Encore casinos.
Watch him respond to Gov. Granholm! Go, Steve, go!
Oh yeah. I saw Steve Wynn on that program. He was AWESOME! Talk about "staying on message"!
ReplyDelete/not a big Obama fan, is he? LOL!
Iraqis enjoy more choice, new styles as attacks fall
ReplyDeleteKnown in the 1960s and 70s as one of the Middle East's more permissive societies, Iraq grew slowly more conservative during years of war, sanctions and hardship, a trend accelerated after 2003 as deep divisions over identity bubbled to the surface.
In the dark days of sectarian carnage in 2006-07, women didn't leave home without carrying a headscarf. Young men and women thought twice before being seen together outside.
"When the religious militias were active and the range of sectarian violence was top ... most people suddenly adopted religious ideas, clothes, appearance and even behavior," said Jamal, a security guard who has been working close to a Baghdad park once famous as a spot for lovers' trysts.
"When the security situation improved and militias disappeared, the people also responded to these changes."
Since 2008, violence has fallen drastically, and Iraqi youths have celebrated by putting on tight jeans and shirts, removing headscarves and taking on new styles.
I BLAME GEORGE BUSH!
Oh, and thanks for the "DUH" info, too. ;-)
ReplyDeletelittleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. I saw Steve Wynn on that program. He was AWESOME! Talk about "staying on message"!
/not a big Obama fan, is he? LOL!
Not in the least. He knows business, and the philosophies of business.
To borrow one of his favorite phrases, he's "not one of these small-time business guys, like Donald Trump".
;)
(It sounds nasty, but while Trump is a big wheel in Atlantic City, he's struggling to keep just his condos afloat on the Las Vegas Strip.)
This is an amazing story!
ReplyDeleteBorn with half a brain, woman living full life
Born with only half a brain, Mack can speak normally, graduated from high school and has an uncanny knack for dates.
At 27, doctors determined that the right side of her brain had essentially rewired itself to make up for function that was likely lost during pre-birth stroke.
...
Michelle Mack is now 37 and lives with her mother and father. She works from home doing data entry for her church. She is fairly independent, pays rent and can do most household chores. She realizes she'll need help for the rest of her life but wanted to tell her story to make it clear that she is not helpless.
I know a lot of people (53% of the voters in this country, as an example) who have 1/2 a brain and don't function nearly as well as this woman!
Goodnight, sweetheart
ReplyDeleteWell, it's 3 o'clock in the morning....
Good Morning C2ers. {lol} thanks for fruitcup. Just what I needed before my 1 1/2 hour drive today. :)))
ReplyDeleteWynn used to have a presence in A.C., too. When he left it "looked" like failure, but a lot of people figured it was more like shrewd business.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Trump WAS building something HUGE right next door to my mom's condo building in Hollywood, FL. The last time we were there all work had stopped cold.
Goodnight, Pi Guy! :-)
ReplyDelete/great movie!
Good morning, Erik! :-)
"People come and go so quickly here!
--- Dorothy, Wizard of Oz.
Plan B for Iran? U.S. Wants Bunker-Buster Fast
ReplyDeletePentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.
And then what? Obama makes pretend that MAD will work with the Mad Mullahs? Unless we use it, or give it to the Israelis to use, this is wasted energy...
My turn to love and leave you {lol}
ReplyDeleteFruit cup! And no more dial-up! Ain't nothing gonna stop me now!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, littleoldlady! How are you today?
A very fine morning to you littleoldlady and Erik!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the fruitcup!
scottishbuzzsaw said...
ReplyDeleteFruit cup! And no more dial-up! Ain't nothing gonna stop me now!
Good Morning. How does it feel to be out of the Dark Ages? :)))
Eastern Europe Fears New Era of Russian Dominance
ReplyDeleteWith an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe.
While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of gas-leveraged Russian domination of the former Soviet bloc. With its gas wealth and eyebrow-raising network of personal ties, Russia has divided members of the European Union that have vowed to act collectively to protect their security
Why worry? I'm sure Obama will guarantee your securi....Oh. Wait.
scotti! :-)
ReplyDeleteYAY! Welcome back!
Callahan! :-)
Erik: It feels quite good, actually!
ReplyDeleteHow are you today?
Under the category of "Be Careful What You Wish For"...
ReplyDeleteA Vigorous Push From Federal Regulators
The Obama administration is taking on Cheerios. And popular cold remedies and swimming pool drains and rhinestones on children's clothing.
With much of Washington focused on efforts to revamp the health-care system and address climate change, a handful of Obama appointees have been quietly exercising their power over the trappings of daily life. They are awakening a vast regulatory apparatus with authority over nearly every U.S. workplace, 15,000 consumer products, and most items found in kitchen pantries and medicine cabinets.
How's that Hope & Change working out for ya?
Good morning all. Finally got six hour of solid sleep. With no sleep aid either. Thanks for the fruitcup littleoldlady.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're feeling better, Phil! :-)
ReplyDelete(Boy what I wouldn't give for 6 hours of solid sleep...!)
ReplyDeleteYes, we're there: Obama To Enter Diplomatic Talks With Raging Wildfire
ReplyDeleteMorning everyone. Lol :), Erik...
Phil I am glad you had that much sleep!
ReplyDeleteFeeling better?
enuff! :-)
ReplyDeleteHA! Maybe he'll use that bunker buster on it...
LOVE The Onion! LOL!
ReplyDeletelol, callahan. Well feeling better is subjective I think. Will see how the rest of the day goes before I give any judgement. The sleep was a good start I think
ReplyDeleteA Thing of Beauty
ReplyDeleteDoing the Math
ReplyDeleteOn October 2 the U.S. Labor Department released its September 2009 jobs report. The sycophants in the mainstream media breathed a sigh of relief that only 263,000 people lost their jobs and the unemployment rate went up a slight .1%. Per the same Labor Department report the current labor force is: 154,006,000 and those employed are 138,864,000, thus the unemployment rate of 9.8%.
However, per a projected Labor Force Change Report the Labor Department predicts the labor force will be 157,721,000 by the end of 2010 and 162,822,000 by the end of 2015.
To maintain the same unemployment rate as we have now (9.8%) the economy would have to create over 3,000,000 new jobs by the end of 2010 and 7,700,000 new jobs by the end of 2015. (Note 1)
This cannot be done as long as the private sector is hamstrung by new taxes and regulations and the annual government deficits continue in the near trillion dollar range for the next ten years.
I don't know whether to say, "Isn't that interesting?" or to quote Pi Guy...DUH!
Ten Turkish ministers head to Syria for strategic talks
ReplyDeleteNew council seen as attempt by Ankara to serve as 'bridge' between Damascus, Teheran and the West; comes days after snubbing Israel on military drill.
Less than a week after Turkey informed Israel that it was unwelcome in the Anatolian Eagle military exercise, 10 Turkish ministers are scheduled to travel to Syria on Tuesday to take part in a meeting of the newly formed Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
Oh ohh, another axis of evil developing?
STUNNING, scotti! Life imitates Art! (It almost looks like a painting, doesn't it?)
ReplyDeleteCallahan,
ReplyDeleteTurkey thought that by excluding Israel they could gain an advantage. Turns out that the U.S. and (I think it was) Italy saw no reason to hold the exercises WITHOUT Israel, so the whole thing was canceled.
As I said at the time, "Who benefits from this?" Certainly NOT Turkey!
It does, lol...and it's better than moose. ;>)
ReplyDelete...or deer! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I GUESS something good came out of what I consider a horrible business decision...
ReplyDeleteMornin Phil...didn't see that you'd dropped in.
ReplyDeleteGeesh...well at least with word out Obama's committing 13k to Afghanistan our friggin weak-kneed gop can concentrate of defeating ObamaCrap. The possibility of that passing is terrifying from my perspective - people are pissed and that Noble bs was like a collision of reality and surrealism.
Oh, and speaking of sports...GO PHILLIES!
ReplyDelete:-)
Time to make my sweetie's tea...bbiab.
ReplyDeleteThanks lol, puts things into perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe islamic-nationalist party in Turkey certainly is out to stir up some trouble. Bit by bit they reduce their chances of becoming a member of the EU plus they have begun to shun former allies.
The possibility of that passing is terrifying from my perspective
ReplyDeleteMine too, enuff! :-(
We can potentially fix nearly every damaging idea Obama is pushing through, including crap and trade, by repealing, revoking, whatever. But I fear this healthcare legislation will be IMPOSSIBLE to undo. :-(
Good Morning CCers!
ReplyDeleteJust a drive by today. Wanted to stop in and say hello, and wish everyone a wonderful day. Perhaps I will see you again this evening.
Later!
Lol,
ReplyDeleteWe're going to have to watch Turkey very closely with the likely prospect of Iran becoming fully nuclear. As a regional power Turkey could have countered Iran, the possibility now exists for a strong alliance between the two states.
Hiya boldandbald! :-)
ReplyDeleteWHOOSH! ;-)
Okay, time to bail and head to work. See you folks on the History thread.
ReplyDeleteLater Phil !
ReplyDeleteenuff,
ReplyDeleteThe thing is (I HOPE this is still true!) the Turkish military is a lot less radical than the government, and has maintained close ties with their Israel counterparts during the political fiasco that's been going on.
I don't know what this means, or will mean, if (WHEN) the poop hits the oscillating mechanism...
See ya, Phil! :-)
ReplyDeleteLol, exactamente about Ocrap. I'd expect a complete unraveling of world expectation(s) and our future economic stability if the damned thing passes. The dollar's on the line right now....
ReplyDeleteComparing Reaganomics to Obamanomics
ReplyDelete/oy!
I need to bail, for the moment.
ReplyDeleteSee y'all later in the day.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
ReplyDeleteHey, I heard that President Obama has won the Heisman Trophy in college football, the Cy Young award in the major leagues, and the Most Valuable Player of the NFL.
Well, he's done about as much in those pursuits as he has for world peace.
In market news, look for the market to open flat today as investors sit back and look for momentum in the market. One more thing to look out for is that valuations are now at about 19 times earnings, which is quite high. When the market run up started valuations were at about 11 times earnings and stocks were a bargain. But at 19 times earnings it's a different story, and the investors out there need to start seeing some high return on investment numbers (like 15% or so) in order to justify those valuations.
The dollar's on the line right now....
ReplyDelete3 wood had an EXCELLENT thread about just that here yesterday.
This is what comes from NOT teaching even basic economics to kids in this society. SO FEW people understand what this means.
Me, being poor ... I'm not able to stock up on gold so I'm starting to hoard food. :-(
Speak of the devil! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHiya, 3 wood! :-)
CARL! :-)
Lol, Erdogan and Gul have been running a campaign against the secularists picking-off both retired and active leadership in the military.
ReplyDeleteWe've also no way of knowing how infiltrated their forces may have become - basically the same happened in Iran.
It's a rough and tough part of the world, enuff. :-(
ReplyDeleteWhat's your take on the Turkey situation, Carl?
/I'm hungry for some reason...
There's a little Sargent Schultz in all of us...
ReplyDeleteAnnie Jacobsen: here are some things the public finds easier to ignore.
I had the same reaction when I returned home from my trip on Friday night to read a single-line item on the Counterterrorism Blog: “Switzerland: Terror cops arrest Collider scientist linked with al-Qaeda,” it said. The Collider is the largest nuclear research facility in the world. For at least the next forty-eight hours the story did not appear anywhere in the U.S. press, despite the fact that the arrested nuclear scientist, a 32-year-old Algerian-born French man named Dr. Adlene Hicheur, was being described by France’s Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence as a “very high-level” operative with AQIM. That’s the same group who’d been experimenting with bubonic plague earlier in the year.
There are...
ReplyDeleteHi littleoldlady. I hope you are doing well today.
ReplyDeleteLittleoldlady,
ReplyDeleteMy take on Turkey is here.
3 wood,
ReplyDeleteJust my usual Axis of Angst: tired, worried and hungry! ;-)
How are you?
Lloyds is exiting the asset protection program in the UK.
ReplyDeleteLloyds Said to Face 2 Billion-Pound Fee to Exit APS
"Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyds Banking Group Plc, the U.K.’s biggest mortgage lender, would have to pay as much as 2 billion pounds ($3.2 billion) to end its participation in the government program aimed at insuring potentially troubled assets, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person, who declined to be named because talks between the bank and government are confidential, said the fee to opt out of the Asset Protection Scheme would be higher than the 1 billion pounds earlier reported by the Daily Telegraph and may reach 2 billion pounds.
The bank has submitted a plan to the Financial Services Authority to raise 15 billion pounds in a share sale, a separate person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified, said on Oct. 8. Under the plan, the lender would also sell assets to raise money."
Sounds like they don;t want much to do with their government overlords either.
"3 wood,
ReplyDeleteJust my usual Axis of Angst: tired, worried and hungry! ;-)
How are you?"
I'm doing fine thank you. Keep me in your prayers today, I have a job interview this afternoon.
Carl, from your link...
ReplyDeleteTherefore, it is not correct to impose political meanings to Turkey's decision to cancel the international part of the multi-national Anatolian Eagle air defense exercise."
WOW. The spin, oh the spin!
/centrifuges aren't the only thing spinning in the Middle East!
The situation IS worrying, yes. :-(
The dollar continues to drop:
ReplyDeleteGold Hits New Record High as Dollar Slips
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33288209
"Gold rose to a record high at $1,063.60 an ounce on Tuesday as the dollar slipped against the euro, increasing the metal's appeal as an alternative asset.
Firmer oil prices and an improvement in physical demand for gold [US@GC.1 1068.4 11.7001 (+1.11%) ] after a sluggish year for jewellery buying are also lifting gold prices."
Oh, BEST OF LUCK, 3 wood!
ReplyDeleteSomebody would have to be crazy not to hire you!
Oh, I forgot about that! I could cash in my (3 pieces of) gold jewelry!
ReplyDelete:-/
Littleoldlady,
ReplyDeleteAs you probably figured out, I don't buy that business of not reading anything into the cancellation. I'm afraid our defense and foreign ministries are doing some wishful thinking as part of damage control.
I believe Turkey is on its way to being Islamist.
Hey Cubs fans!, The Chicago Cubs are filing bankruptcy today. It's a technical step they are taking to enable them to be sold, but still, this is so "Cubs".
ReplyDeleteThe organization's talent evaluation ability has been pretty much bankrupt for over 100 years now, so it kind of fits.
Morning all.
ReplyDelete3wood- go get em, tiger!
If you can't dazzle them with brilliance....
Mmm. Hot coffee, grits and strawberries. It's a cool sunny morning. Life is good.
ReplyDeleteCarl,
ReplyDeleteBut doesn't it seem that Turkey has also damaged its relations with the US and Europe in the process? Sure, we don't need another Islamist country - especially one with such advanced technology enjoyed by its military...
(Oy. The more I think about it, the worse it gets!)
What percentage of the population of Turkey is secular (or Westernized) do you think? And will this create a backlash, at least something akin to the protests in Iran?
{[{My Rove}}]! :-)
ReplyDeleteExtra hugs in the hope that you'll share some of those strawberries and grits!
"Somebody would have to be crazy not to hire you!"
ReplyDeleteVery kind of you to say.
Funny thing, I was in a meeting the other day with regard to my job that is ending, and the suit running the meeting kept on referring to me with regard to projects to be worked on next spring, and I had to keep reminding him that they eliminated my job and I won't be around in the spring, remember?
It got to be humorous, Others were in the meeting and you could hear a pin drop.
Good morning lol...your fruit cup looks fresh as usual.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck today 3wood.
How are you Jim?
Whoop some ass for us, 3Wood.
ReplyDelete3 wood,
ReplyDeleteROTFL! You DO know that the theme of this morning's fruitcup thread is "DUH!", don't you?
Thank you for that contribution! ;-)
Jorline! :-) :-) :-)
ReplyDeleteCustom, designer fruitcup!
/I'm livin' large here at C2! ;-)
Jack's back! Hiya Jack. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm off to work, Hi/ bye Jorline, Carl, 3wood, Jack.
ReplyDelete{littleoldlady}
It's 8 am (EST) and there's a new thread up. ↑
ReplyDeleteCarl, does Turkey have one of those red pop up indicators when it's full Islamic?
ReplyDeleteGood morning.
Um...Jim? My grits?
ReplyDeleteJIM!
;-)
PIMF...that should be fully Islamic...it's still early.
ReplyDeleteTime to get the kids off to school before I go make the doughnuts.
Have a great day everyone.
See ya, Jorline! :-) Have a great day.
ReplyDelete(Long email coming to you later today...)
littleoldlady said...
ReplyDeleteSee ya, Jorline! :-) Have a great day.
(Long email coming to you later today...)
As long as mine? lol
I may not reply until tonight. For some reason I can receive email on my laptop at the restaurant, but I can not send. I usually have to wait until I arrive back home to reply.
May have to contact my ISP about that today...very strange.
I look forward to your email and have a wonderful day.
No rush, Jorline! :-)
ReplyDeleteClosing this one down, folks...please join us upstairs! ↑
ReplyDelete