Jim

Just reacting to what you said to PP. Your wrong. It wasn't racist. Wrongly suggestive of something nefarious? Yes. Just as no one takes FW seriously because of his constant rants and lack of a coherent argument, you're doing a decent job filling up the liberal side of the quota. Personally, I stop listening when the volume gets too shrill. Oh to be pure.

Regurgitating racist propaganda is racism. who the fucks care if we can't tell the difference? Dude. Dial it down.

I'm not blaming public employees for anything. But when they are paid by the public from taxes there needs to be some reasonable give and take in the system. I'm a bit miffed that King County, for a specific example, has chosen NOT to negoiate with the union to have employees pay a higher share of thier medical benefits. Given the extremely large deficts that are looming it's a mystery to me because there will be more layoffs without it. Should everyone, private sector and public, have access to health care without the screwed up system we have now? Of course. But that is a larger systematic issue and in the meantime having higher, public funded benefits seems out of wack.

Gohere: http://www.solarmillennium.de/Investors/Information_for_Shareholders_and_Interested_Parties_,lang2,4.html Download latest Annual Report Go to page 71. Jesus. Well not to get off track on the discussion - but yes, it verifies what I said, they are getting investment tax credits in the way of accelerated depreciation. And as far us being an unviable industry they are looking pretty good as of, well today! http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2010/09/17/17greenwire-calif-oks-major-solar-project-slated-for-feder-36415.html

Well no, you don't have examples. Just generalizations.

That's a pretty sweeping statement. And because I haven't studied it I can only go my experience and here's a couple of contrasting examples. When I worked for the feds there was a guy, who on my first week in the office explained to me that when I travelled during the next month how I could pad my expense report to make some money. This is the same guy who had an office tucked back in an out of the way place - purposely put there because they didn't know what else to do with him and didn't whan the paper chase of trying to fire him - where he would bring a couple beers into work in the afternoon three times a week. Then there was the supervisor who wanted a promotion but couldn't get one because he had to supervise a certain number of GS-12 employees. So he promoted an incompetent person just to get his quota. Then there was the series of folks who just took sick days as if they were added vacation days. In my private sector jobs if you didn't cut the mustuard you were out. We hired one bright and promising person who turned out to be a lunch time drinker. After a couple warnings and offers to help with no response he was fired. No dancing around. I hired an ecologist who looked good on paper but after several months it was apparant she oversold herself. Couldn't afford to keep someone on to warm a chair so we gave her a small and fair severance and hired another person. While I don't advocate the private model for all of the public sector there needs to be a bit of belt tightening - particularly with the benefits, in these economic times.

In general I don't see an issue with the paper - their assumptions are ones that any statistician has to make when relying on such data sets, and they seem reasonable. But - one item did catch my eye: There's no comparison of pension benifits vs. what they would have earned at the same salary for social security. Having worked for a state, the feds, and private industury, here's what I've found: Private employees are generally paid at a higher wage than public employees - but there is a higher expectation of workload and no comp time. Public employees have more generous benefits such as sick time, health benefits, holidays, and matches to 401ks. Public employees stick to a 40 hr work week or less (but certainly not teachers!). I tried to recruit an ecologist from the UW and could not match his salary request because we couldn't bill out his hourly rate at his level of experience. He was requesting this higher salary to make up for our lesser benefits and the 100% 401k match he gets at the UW. Couldn't do it. Deadwood - much less of it in the private sector. In the public sector I found there was always some percentage (15%?) of folks not pulling their weight and just hiding. They got a reputation of incompetence so folks would not give them much work, so they were not so busy. If you were competent then more work came your way. We called it the 80/20 rule - 80% of the work got done by 20% of the staff. I'm all for reasonable work expectations but found this living off the dole appalling. Exceptions - I find these groups to generally have extremely tough jobs and they are underpaid for the shite they put up with and the hours they put in: teachers and cops.

Oh dear. Like shooting fish in a barrel.

The RNC is certainly hoping for such. I'm thinking that it would help if moderate republicans (alive?) would denounce the wacko far right portion of their party, ya know, just as they advocate for the moderate Muslims.

Ho-ly cow. Just when you think repulicans can't pick a more stupid candidate to hang their hopes on, well there ya go. If the trend continues the Dems will pick up seats.

It's all about how her endorsees do in the midterms. I'm giddy with anticipation! And Tina Fey's thoughts?

Yes, I'm okay with that. The fact that there will always be such people should not be an excuse not to work toward the "best circumstances" possible. Keep that whole 'all men are created equal' thing going, you know? No one can argue with that. But let's wait - 3,2,1..FW?

You're stetching my statments 'me thinks. Not to sound too much like JayB but I guess it depends on how you parse my term of "loser". But to think that somehow we as a society are going to figure out a way so everyone can sustain a $50k income - well it ain't going to happen. Under the best of circumstances there are always going to be some folks, even if given the right opportunities, will fall short for lack of motivation, too much reality TV, or the desire to emulate the Dude. Can we make progress on the undeniable flow of money and power to the top - yes. Will it ever be a perfect society - no. We're dealing with humans here.

I heard the piece and while the woman was articulate I'd agree that she was pushing the same old trickle down theories. Tax breaks for the rich help all, a rising tide, blah, blah, blah. And after all the she's not bothered by income inequity. Common sense notes that there are winners and losers in a capitilistic system and that's ok - folk's have a problem when the moneyed people have all the influence and keep getting all the (tax) beaks and bailouts.

My bad. Miami, Florida (CNN) - The ex-chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, Jim Greer, is now apologizing for stoking fears about President Obama's address to school children last year. Greer, now under indictment on fraud and money-laundering charges after being drummed out of the state party, also accused "many within the GOP" of having "racist views." In September 2009, conservatives raised questions about the motives of president's back-to-school speech, which was beamed into many of the nation's classrooms. Greer was among them, charging that "taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology." "While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda," he said then in a statement that made waves around the country. Greer is now apologizing for those comments. "In the year since I issued a prepared statement regarding President Obama speaking to the nation's school children, I have learned a great deal about the party I so deeply loved and served," Greer said in a statement Tuesday to CNN and other media outlets. "Unfortunately, I found that many within the GOP have racist views and I apologize to the President for my opposition to his speech last year and my efforts to placate the extremists who dominate our Party today. My children and I look forward to the President's speech."

Shoot - I would have demonstrated with the RNC against the wacko Bushie policies - I'm not picky.

Wow, thats hardy. But for the rest of us $1000 seems a bit too much. The $50 for Rainer seems reasonable. I know folks who were climbing rangers on Denali and a couple on Rainer. It's not such a cush job and the pay stinks for the skills these folks have (in general). If there were no ranger services sure-as-shootin' someone would fall in a crevasse and their family would sue the NPS and then the screws would be tightened. Especially up in Denali there's been a number of wackos throwing themselves at the peak like lemmings and then insisting on rescue because they have a tweaked wrist or are cold. Remember a few years back when those two chicks got pulled off by helicopter pretty high up and then on the ambulance ride in Anchorage they convinced the driver to stop at KFC - big emergency.

Thanks for the reassuring look at the electorate.

And this has to do with millionare tax breaks how? "All this time we *believed* in Fidel....[sniff]" Must be lots of tears adding a bitter tinge to the organic fair-trade coffee in Che themed mugs this morning. Can't help but wonder if the evil homonym has had to add Fidel to the list of regressives scrawled in crayon on his basement drywall... Well that's one way to avoid the subject at hand. I'm glad that you and the GOP are not steering the Titanic in another direction, even after than minor ice cube run-in, and are continuing with the tried and true Trickle Up theory of wealth and protecting those millionaires from an onslaught tax burdens. That will help us beat back the growing economic powerhouse now looming 90 miles from Miami.

And this has to do with millionare tax breaks how?

This is to good! Don't leave out the millionares!!

GOP strategy http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/amazing-race-watermelon-head_n_709102.html

Is the 'do and muttochops photoshopped or is that the real thing? Awesome.

.....as you were saying.....

And yet you recently boasted about how you were able to tell your boss to fuck off while you spent the better part of the summer in Bolivia? I smell denial--with a dash of hypocrisy. Sticking to the facts as well as Fox news I see. I would have gladly subjected myself to the whims of the marketplace if my employer said they couldn't afford to let me go. Would have been my choice. But I'm in a profession and decently educated. I see a big difference between professional jobs and trade jobs. How this morphs in your tweaky head to an argument for a non-regulatory utopia is part of the continued mystery you show us every day. Amazing really.