Jim

Meanwhile. SALEM, Ore. — Documents released Monday by the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System show former University of Oregon football coach Mike Bellotti is the state's top public pension beneficiary. Bellotti collects nearly a half million dollars annually in pension checks — more than $41,000 per month. 8D The names of about 100,000 retired public employees in Oregon and how much they receive in pensions are being made public as part of a court settlement between the state retirement system and two newspapers. The Oregonian and The Statesman Journal demanded the records last year to shine a light on state spending. Bellotti told The Oregonian on Monday evening that he simply accepted the package he was offered when he signed on at the university in 1989. Bellotti said the pension was a fraction of his final annual compensation from the university, which he said was between $1.9 million and $2 million. The Statesman Journal says PERS pays out more than $230 million a month to all beneficiaries combined. The Oregonian reported that 837 pensioners get more than $100,000 a year.

One of my brothers from back east was skiing at some PA resort - Shawnee maybe? Anyway, he's next in line for a chair and the friggin' thing drops to the platform in front of him. They stop the lift, drag it aside, start it up and yell - next! Bolivia - it's rare the snow season there cooperates for good skiing. O cada muerte de obispo! There's some great looking volcanos, if your lungs can handle it, but being so close the equator makes the snow conditions, well, interesting. Try skiing among penitentes as tall as you. Buena suerte!

Swiftboating. Palin Bachman Cain Gingrich Jesus, Mary, and Harry. This group deserves all the derision that comes their way. They're wackos.

Falafel

Even though you claim it's so obvious that you can do the math in your head, it still doesn't add up: the Greek economy was growing at 4.5%/yr since 2000, tax evasion and corruption were rampant, the financial crash and global economic down turn tanked the Greek economy, revenue decreased radically which was compounded by austerity measures, and you conclude they can't pay their debt because public employees have it too easy? Yea. And what is known now is that growth was floated on a sea of false premises. Reality is a bitch. Now what?

Oh, don't get me wrong. The financial sector also is complicit. But crash or not, this reckoning was coming. Just a bit quicker now.

Seriously, it's not an incipient plot. It's basic math. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year.....

So your argument is that the private sector in Greece was just as insoluble as the public sector??!! Don't think so. There are some good studies showing how, when taking in actual hours worked, benefits, and pensions, that the long-term compensation for public employees is a notch above the private sector. And that can be good - providing a base for healthcare - maybe some day - or it can be not good - driving debt obligations. I mean really - 20 yrs of federal service and you get life-time medical care comesurate with what you had while working? For instance. Or a pension that in no way you could have saved for and gotten an interest rate that would have netted 30% of what is guaranteed - despite falling interest rates. Yea, a bargin for the taxpayer. More specifically with Greece - through either gile or incompetence they left off about $40B in their debt obligations when applying for EU status. Oopsee! Thatand public reiterment at 55? Oh yea, no role here.

It's not only the size of the debt that folks with money to invest in bonds worry about, it's the ability to repay it. If it was all about the numbers, the yield on Spain and Italy's debt wouldn't be heading north rapidly despite the ECB's best efforts to keep a lid on them. We could find ourselves in the same boat, and rather quickly. I would agree with this. The numbers posted re: debt quickly point to a need for a change in the US budget policy. And yes, forward looking debt obligations play a big role here. While the neoliberal financial creeps had a major role here, some of this is just shining some light on unsustainable practices. Greece did a good job of shinning up a dented penny and the other Europeans casted a blind eye to it when cobbling together the EU. Really, their debt obligations, population curve, reiterment age, and tax collection structure was already heading them for a cliff. Simialarly in the US we have unsustainable promises to federal and state employees, flushing of treasure down the worldwide military adventure toilet, and a Congress with not too much on their mind but re-election. Difficult to be optimistic about where this is going.

Glad to see things are back to abynormal 'round here.

Maybe it's the folks from Exit 38 who have moved into town now that the snow is flying.

The latest EU agreement has the banks taking a 40% haircut. Ouch! I suspect it is going to get more like a Marine buzz shortly, there is no choice, even with the austerity plans.

Pressured to Name Leader, Occupy Denver Elects Dog Denver Mayor Michael Hancock insisted that his city's occupation name a leader in order "to deal with City and State officials." And he got his wish! Occupy Denver has elected Shelby, a border collie, as its leader. Long live Shelby! Shelby, on whose noble visage you can gaze here, was elected in a "landslide vote" on Sunday night. One of Occupy Denver's organizers, Al Nesby, was inspired to nominate Shelby to the position after the director Michael Moore showed up one day and rubbed him the wrong way by refusing to follow general assembly rules; with Shelby, who's three and a half, the occupation should have no such problems. Her bodyguard and closest confidante is a filmmaker named Peter John Jentsch

:lmao:

Another class act. from the Blog: Using software!!

And that minor group the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - minor group that oversees commercial ocean fisheries, endangered species, weather and climate research and forecasting. Jeesh, what a waste. I can't think of a greater pack of idiots up for the GOP primary in recent memory.

Not a big fan of recalls, but in this case he tried to play bully and deserves the boot. Also, good news in Ohio: MADISON, Wis. — The resounding rejection of an anti-union law by Ohio voters provides a huge boost for Democrats and union officials preparing for their next major battle -- the attempted recall of Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker -- but their prospects could be clouded by the differences between the two Midwestern states and their election laws. After the nearly 2-1 defeat of the Ohio law, union opponents of Walker are finalizing plans to gather the more than 540,000 signatures needed to put his recall on the ballot next year. The petition drive is expected to start next week.

Back to orginal topic: One thing I noticed distinctly missing from the 1183 discussion was what would have happened if it did not pass regarding SB 5942 - which was already pass by Olympia back in April. It would sell liquor distribution and warehousing to the highest bidder - basically a one time revenue boost (WA would maintain control -whatever that means), while 1183 provides a long-term revenue source. So the default would lose us a pile of future revenue for a short-term, temporary boost.

No. Actually he takes the media to task - didn't say anything about liberals.

Meanwhile... Washington (CNN) -- GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain faced a new claim of sexually inappropriate behavior Monday as a Chicago woman told reporters the former head of the National Restaurant Association groped her after a dinner together in 1997. Sharon Bialek, who worked at the restaurant group's education foundation until shortly before the alleged groping incident, said Cain unexpectedly put his hand on her leg beneath her skirt "toward my genitals." She also said he pushed her head toward his crotch.

Hook, line, and sinker.

Hey, it was my only way into the Mile High Club. Whatever happened to our agreement/settlement? Good luck - I'll try and tune in.

I'm going to call in and ask about that airplane lavatory/gerbil incident you were involved with. Privacy indeed!

I'm all for realigning such roads were they can be done so reasonably. In these cases I believe there are decent options. Somewhat related - there has been a constant drop in use of trails by folks, maybe everyone is getting more enamored with their electronic toys. And taking a ride up the old Stehekin road allowed folks not otherwise inclined to see the beauty of the NCs. Yea, maybe they were a bit portly and that's why they were taking a ride - or maybe they were phyched to take their kids into the wilderness for a couple of nights. That's how you build future advocates for our parks and their budgets.

Connelly leaves out a few key facts in the discussion of both the Suiattle and Stehekin Roads, maybe he was just trying to simplify the discussion to meet column space limitations. I don't know. Having worked on the natural resource issues for both - here is what I came across. The Suiattle road is not in a good place, that combined with long term land use (timber) has caused a more dynamic patter of erosion and aggradation. FEMA provided some funds for the project as did the county. But - because FEMA was recently sued regarding their affects on floodplains/ESA listed fish, there is much more scrunity regarding puting roads and facilities back where they are susceptible to repeat damage (read - floodplains)which doesn't make sense regarding policy or budget. So moving the road requires a USFS permit/environmental clearance - which also opens up a more robust public process. So it's more than throwing a bunch of rip-rap in the river, adding fill, and resurfacing. If access is going to be continued, then it's is a new road alignment. For the Stehekin it's even messier. That road also is susceptible to multiple flood events, and is likely to get worse give the flahiness of NC rivers - due to global warming and effects on lower elevation snow pack (See the UW Climate Group papers). Plus - the favored new alignment is decent, but it is in the designaged Wilderness! So to get a road there they will have to either 1) pull that sliver out of the Wilderness designation, or 2) get an exception. Good luck getting Congress to act on either.