Amen, and Amen again.
A blessed Easter, to one and all.
Christ is risen. That fact is our bedrock, our immovable basis for hope in this life and beyond.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Bill Ayers, Obama's BFF, Excluded From Canada (Once Again)
Ya' gotta love it.
We need to lease the services of the Canadian border authorities, and let them help us develop some common sense and some spine about keeping violent and dangerous people from entering our southern border! Damn! Theze boyz iz good!
Of course, the screams of indignation from DuhLeft are heard on both sides of the border.
Like this, from Toronto:
“Martha Stewart – who did time in a federal prison – received special dispensation from the Canadian Government to attend a ‘pumpkin regatta’ in Nova Scotia a few years ago and last year was allowed to speak at the Canada Blooms show in Toronto,” said Mark Langer, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, in a written statement. “I wonder about a government that will let an American felon paddle around in a hollowed-out pumpkin, but refuses to allow a respected academic to participate in our democratic discourse.”
'Scuse me thar, Doctah' Langer! Don'tchew go pissin' on my shoes and telling me it's raining. That tactic don't wukh no moh'.
The attempt to equate Martha Stewart to Bill Ayers is one more example of the hysterical hyperbole that continues to define the Academic Left.
Martha did do a very bad thing by engaging in insider trading, no question, and no defense of her behavior should be offered. Once convicted, she showed up to prison at the earliest available check-in date, and served her time. Then she moved on, with all benefit of her illegal trades stripped from her, and her net worth and reputation severely degraded.
Ayers, on the other hand, participated in deadly violence against innocent people in the name of his political causes, and advocated that others do likewise. He remains unrepentant, and the only reason he does not have a felony conviction is due to technical issues in his prosecution, i.e., he reaped the benefit of the Constitution and rule of law he so despises and seeks to overthrow.
The Canadian government is completely within its rights to turn him away at their border, given the known public facts about this man. He has no 'right' to enter that country and spread his poison.
It's their country, not his, and they are wise to exclude him.
Now, whom do we contact about that lease arrangement?
We need to lease the services of the Canadian border authorities, and let them help us develop some common sense and some spine about keeping violent and dangerous people from entering our southern border! Damn! Theze boyz iz good!
Of course, the screams of indignation from DuhLeft are heard on both sides of the border.
Like this, from Toronto:
“Martha Stewart – who did time in a federal prison – received special dispensation from the Canadian Government to attend a ‘pumpkin regatta’ in Nova Scotia a few years ago and last year was allowed to speak at the Canada Blooms show in Toronto,” said Mark Langer, president of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations, in a written statement. “I wonder about a government that will let an American felon paddle around in a hollowed-out pumpkin, but refuses to allow a respected academic to participate in our democratic discourse.”
'Scuse me thar, Doctah' Langer! Don'tchew go pissin' on my shoes and telling me it's raining. That tactic don't wukh no moh'.
The attempt to equate Martha Stewart to Bill Ayers is one more example of the hysterical hyperbole that continues to define the Academic Left.
Martha did do a very bad thing by engaging in insider trading, no question, and no defense of her behavior should be offered. Once convicted, she showed up to prison at the earliest available check-in date, and served her time. Then she moved on, with all benefit of her illegal trades stripped from her, and her net worth and reputation severely degraded.
Ayers, on the other hand, participated in deadly violence against innocent people in the name of his political causes, and advocated that others do likewise. He remains unrepentant, and the only reason he does not have a felony conviction is due to technical issues in his prosecution, i.e., he reaped the benefit of the Constitution and rule of law he so despises and seeks to overthrow.
The Canadian government is completely within its rights to turn him away at their border, given the known public facts about this man. He has no 'right' to enter that country and spread his poison.
It's their country, not his, and they are wise to exclude him.
Now, whom do we contact about that lease arrangement?
Brad Watson, WFAA Interviewer vs. Obama Without His Teleprompter
So, someone in the White House thought it would be a cool idea to have Himself sit down for a ten-minute interview with a local TV reporter from Dallas, one of those Texas shit-kickers who otherwise aren't worth paying attention to. One of the Little People. It'll look good, The Beloved Leader condescending to da' Common Folk like Brad Watson--jest another middle-aged white boy with a nice voice and a trim haircut. What could possibly go wrong?
How about just about everything? This is the raw video, unedited. Listen and watch, and listen to the very end, where The One (obviously truly pissed off) takes his ire out on the erstwhile shit-kicker who got the best of him. The One begins the visit all smiles and relaxation, and by the end, is obviously cheesed.
Watson showed up well-prepared, with a tight list of questions, Texas issues all, that he wished to address with The One. Obama was not expecting this, at all.
When asked about deficit reduction, he goes into a standard rant about blaming George Bush for causing the crash in housing by spending money on wars and prescription drug beniefits, and 'tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires'. The standard rant. He's trying to change the subject and run the clock--his standard tactic. Then he claims that he'll be able to match the Ryan plan (6 trillion in cuts in spending) with his own 4 trillion, just by cutting waste and abuse and raising taxes. 4 does not equal 6, in anyone's universe except Obama's.
Watson asks bluntly--'Why do you think you're so unpopular in Texas?' Himself begins to ramble, claiming he didn't lose by much, at which point Watson corrects him by pointing out Texas voted against him by over a 10% margin. Himself did not like that at all....
Then on to the question about the retired space shuttles--not one for Houston. At this point Obama tries to cut off the questions entirely, and turns churlish. Not going well, there, at all. Again, he's employing a technique--just keep repeating the denials over the question, repeat repeat repeat, deny deny deny...
Watson gives him plenty of room to completely deny his involvement, and it's obvious Watson does not much believe Himself on this one. Texas in 2012 is beginning to swirl the drain. One can hear the sucking sound already...
At every mention of Rick Perry, Obama snickers condescendingly. Still going downhill, we are we are. (Flushing sound heard in background...)
At the mention of Medicaid, again he snickers and claims that the poor and elderly need the Federal gubbmint's protection from the State of Texas. Watson asks, 'So block grants are out?', and Obama goes into high chatter mode, about medical tests, on and on and on. He's really trying to run the clock, hold the ball, avoid the next question.
Same on immigration--if just the Republicans would roll over, we would have no more problems...
And finally--are you writing off Texas? Beloved Leader is off his game now, declares
'I love...Texas', (but won't commit to campaign there.)' All that relaxed, smiling, hail-fellow-well-met attitude is gone. Himself is chilly and unsmiling. (Who in the hell thought up this lame-brained idea? They told me this guy was a redneck shit-kicker! That's what I ordered up! Damn!)
Then, as mics are being removed, our Beloved Horse's-Ass-In-Chief (unaware the mics are on), proceeds to scold Watson for interrupting His Highness.
View the video again. Who was being disrespectful to whom? Who kept breaking in on a particularly uncomfortable question? Who continued to ramble and attempt to shift the subject? Who kept smirking about the governor of Texas?
This is Obama, being Himself, sans teleprompter. Churlish when taken off script, and intellectually vapid when challenged. What might have happened had Watson truly been aggressive, in the manner of any Lefty journalist with a GOP candidate--the sort of treatment afforded Sarah Palin in 2008?
Wait for it--it will happen. Blood has been drawn, and the next interviewer, or the next, or the next, will zero in. There will be a meltdown, for all to see. The mask will slip completely, not just partially, as happened today.
This man has to actually run on his record in 2012, not on George Bush's record. The country has been put on official warning about its credit rating, he has started a war outside both the law and Constitution that has gone tragically wrong; and with each passing day, it is obvious this man is only a child surrounded by children, completely unequal to the task, and unwilling to heed any manner of sane advice.
Thank you, Mr. Watson. You did the real job of the journalist. You revealed the true nature of the subject of your interview.
Don't, however, expect to be invited back. You're off the Christmas card list as well. Expect a letter from the IRS...
How about just about everything? This is the raw video, unedited. Listen and watch, and listen to the very end, where The One (obviously truly pissed off) takes his ire out on the erstwhile shit-kicker who got the best of him. The One begins the visit all smiles and relaxation, and by the end, is obviously cheesed.
Watson showed up well-prepared, with a tight list of questions, Texas issues all, that he wished to address with The One. Obama was not expecting this, at all.
When asked about deficit reduction, he goes into a standard rant about blaming George Bush for causing the crash in housing by spending money on wars and prescription drug beniefits, and 'tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires'. The standard rant. He's trying to change the subject and run the clock--his standard tactic. Then he claims that he'll be able to match the Ryan plan (6 trillion in cuts in spending) with his own 4 trillion, just by cutting waste and abuse and raising taxes. 4 does not equal 6, in anyone's universe except Obama's.
Watson asks bluntly--'Why do you think you're so unpopular in Texas?' Himself begins to ramble, claiming he didn't lose by much, at which point Watson corrects him by pointing out Texas voted against him by over a 10% margin. Himself did not like that at all....
Then on to the question about the retired space shuttles--not one for Houston. At this point Obama tries to cut off the questions entirely, and turns churlish. Not going well, there, at all. Again, he's employing a technique--just keep repeating the denials over the question, repeat repeat repeat, deny deny deny...
Watson gives him plenty of room to completely deny his involvement, and it's obvious Watson does not much believe Himself on this one. Texas in 2012 is beginning to swirl the drain. One can hear the sucking sound already...
At every mention of Rick Perry, Obama snickers condescendingly. Still going downhill, we are we are. (Flushing sound heard in background...)
At the mention of Medicaid, again he snickers and claims that the poor and elderly need the Federal gubbmint's protection from the State of Texas. Watson asks, 'So block grants are out?', and Obama goes into high chatter mode, about medical tests, on and on and on. He's really trying to run the clock, hold the ball, avoid the next question.
Same on immigration--if just the Republicans would roll over, we would have no more problems...
And finally--are you writing off Texas? Beloved Leader is off his game now, declares
'I love...Texas', (but won't commit to campaign there.)' All that relaxed, smiling, hail-fellow-well-met attitude is gone. Himself is chilly and unsmiling. (Who in the hell thought up this lame-brained idea? They told me this guy was a redneck shit-kicker! That's what I ordered up! Damn!)
Then, as mics are being removed, our Beloved Horse's-Ass-In-Chief (unaware the mics are on), proceeds to scold Watson for interrupting His Highness.
View the video again. Who was being disrespectful to whom? Who kept breaking in on a particularly uncomfortable question? Who continued to ramble and attempt to shift the subject? Who kept smirking about the governor of Texas?
This is Obama, being Himself, sans teleprompter. Churlish when taken off script, and intellectually vapid when challenged. What might have happened had Watson truly been aggressive, in the manner of any Lefty journalist with a GOP candidate--the sort of treatment afforded Sarah Palin in 2008?
Wait for it--it will happen. Blood has been drawn, and the next interviewer, or the next, or the next, will zero in. There will be a meltdown, for all to see. The mask will slip completely, not just partially, as happened today.
This man has to actually run on his record in 2012, not on George Bush's record. The country has been put on official warning about its credit rating, he has started a war outside both the law and Constitution that has gone tragically wrong; and with each passing day, it is obvious this man is only a child surrounded by children, completely unequal to the task, and unwilling to heed any manner of sane advice.
Thank you, Mr. Watson. You did the real job of the journalist. You revealed the true nature of the subject of your interview.
Don't, however, expect to be invited back. You're off the Christmas card list as well. Expect a letter from the IRS...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
'Turn Back South': Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever Blows The Whistle About DHS Refusal To Enforce The Southern Border
The mail supporting his assertions has been flooding in, and the correspondents tell on consistent story: DHS wants to cook the statistics to make it appear the illegal immigration problem is improving, when in fact it is deteriorating.
An Arizona sheriff says he has been flooded with calls and emails of support from local and federal agents who back his claims that the U.S. Border Patrol has effectively ordered them to stop apprehending illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
..and later...
Local 2544, the Tucson branch of the National Border Patrol Council union, has also come out in support of Dever, and posted this message on their website after the FoxNews.com report.
“Sheriff Dever is right. We have seen so many slick shenanigans pulled in regards to 'got-aways' and entry numbers that at times it seems David Copperfield is running the Border Patrol. Creating the illusion that all is well and you can start having family picnics in the areas where we work has been going on far too long. Has there been improvement in some areas? Absolutely. Is the border anywhere near 'under control'? Absolutely not. Do some in management play games with numbers and cater to the wishes of politicians like Janet Napolitano and David Aguilar? Resoundingly, yes. Time for the foolish political games to stop.”
There are, of course, the standard spluttering indignant denials from DHS. They are a regular part of the Kabuki Theater that now passes for governance in a country run by children.
The worst damage of all is to the public trust. Every time this happens, the pressure washer of rank dishonesty blows more mortar from between the bricks of the culture.
It's become so common, we've become innured, and that is a dangerous state in which to live.
An Arizona sheriff says he has been flooded with calls and emails of support from local and federal agents who back his claims that the U.S. Border Patrol has effectively ordered them to stop apprehending illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
..and later...
Local 2544, the Tucson branch of the National Border Patrol Council union, has also come out in support of Dever, and posted this message on their website after the FoxNews.com report.
“Sheriff Dever is right. We have seen so many slick shenanigans pulled in regards to 'got-aways' and entry numbers that at times it seems David Copperfield is running the Border Patrol. Creating the illusion that all is well and you can start having family picnics in the areas where we work has been going on far too long. Has there been improvement in some areas? Absolutely. Is the border anywhere near 'under control'? Absolutely not. Do some in management play games with numbers and cater to the wishes of politicians like Janet Napolitano and David Aguilar? Resoundingly, yes. Time for the foolish political games to stop.”
There are, of course, the standard spluttering indignant denials from DHS. They are a regular part of the Kabuki Theater that now passes for governance in a country run by children.
The worst damage of all is to the public trust. Every time this happens, the pressure washer of rank dishonesty blows more mortar from between the bricks of the culture.
It's become so common, we've become innured, and that is a dangerous state in which to live.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Hook 'Em Horns! Or, Don't Mess With Texas--UT Endowment Takes Physical Delivery Of Gold
It's such a common practice in the popular media, both entertainment and 'news'--the portrayal of Texans as rubes, fools, rednecks, sadists, hicks, farmers and ranchers with IQ's no higher than the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. It's so common we simply become innured to it, and quietly assume it must be true, because after all it's 'common knowledge'. California, on the other hand, is the epitome of all that is cool, forward-thinking and praiseworthy.
Movies such as 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and the remake of 'The Man Who Loved Women'(with Julie Andrews and Burt Reynolds, back in their day), provide particularly funny skewering of Texas life. Chuck Norris did the state no favors with stilted productions of his TV series set in the state. Add in clowns like Jerry Johnson, eccentrics like Willie Nelson, stir gently.
OS has visited the place a few times over the years, and one of his best friends is a proud Texan transplanted to points north. These people are different, to be certain, but they are no fools. Anyone notice that there is an ongoing migration of population of businesses and people from California to Texas? Might that say something about life in those two states?
So, this little gem from Bloomberg today was not surprising.
Dallas hedge-fund manager J. Kyle Bass helped advise the University of Texas Investment Management Co. on taking delivery of 6,643 gold bars, worth $987 million on April 15, now stored in a bank warehouse in New York.
Bass, who made $500 million with 2006 bets on a U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapse, said managers of the endowment, known as UTIMCO, sought board approval to convert its gold investments into bullion this year. A board member, Bass, 41, said he was asked to help with that process.
While Bass, a managing partner at Hayman Capital Management LP, said in an April 16 e-mail that “the decision to purchase and take delivery of the physical gold” was made by endowment staff members, “I helped where I could.” Gold futures touched a record $1,489.10 an ounce April 15 in New York before closing at $1,486.
There's all sorts of paper floating about, putatively backed by physical gold. Both the gold and silver markets have become massive shell games, because there isn't even a fraction of the metal needed to deliver to all the customers who could demand delivery. So, UTIMCO decided it was time to pick the chips off the table and leave the game. They demanded and took delivery last Friday, in physical gold.
It's theirs, and no one else's.
Wonder what happens when another twenty or so similar funds decide to follow suit? Rather like a deadly game of musical chairs: twenty players, nineteen chairs, and when the music stops, someone ends up on the floor. Repeat--nineteen players, eighteen chairs.
This could get ugly, unless you're the board of UTIMCO. Yep, them folks is just a bunch of rubes and rednecks, so don't pay them no attention....
Moral of the tale: Don't mess with Texas. (And take delivery while you can...)
(Disclosure--long gold and silver--in self defense, 'cuz the money printing will eat us all up before too long.)
Movies such as 'Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' and the remake of 'The Man Who Loved Women'(with Julie Andrews and Burt Reynolds, back in their day), provide particularly funny skewering of Texas life. Chuck Norris did the state no favors with stilted productions of his TV series set in the state. Add in clowns like Jerry Johnson, eccentrics like Willie Nelson, stir gently.
OS has visited the place a few times over the years, and one of his best friends is a proud Texan transplanted to points north. These people are different, to be certain, but they are no fools. Anyone notice that there is an ongoing migration of population of businesses and people from California to Texas? Might that say something about life in those two states?
So, this little gem from Bloomberg today was not surprising.
Dallas hedge-fund manager J. Kyle Bass helped advise the University of Texas Investment Management Co. on taking delivery of 6,643 gold bars, worth $987 million on April 15, now stored in a bank warehouse in New York.
Bass, who made $500 million with 2006 bets on a U.S. subprime-mortgage market collapse, said managers of the endowment, known as UTIMCO, sought board approval to convert its gold investments into bullion this year. A board member, Bass, 41, said he was asked to help with that process.
While Bass, a managing partner at Hayman Capital Management LP, said in an April 16 e-mail that “the decision to purchase and take delivery of the physical gold” was made by endowment staff members, “I helped where I could.” Gold futures touched a record $1,489.10 an ounce April 15 in New York before closing at $1,486.
There's all sorts of paper floating about, putatively backed by physical gold. Both the gold and silver markets have become massive shell games, because there isn't even a fraction of the metal needed to deliver to all the customers who could demand delivery. So, UTIMCO decided it was time to pick the chips off the table and leave the game. They demanded and took delivery last Friday, in physical gold.
It's theirs, and no one else's.
Wonder what happens when another twenty or so similar funds decide to follow suit? Rather like a deadly game of musical chairs: twenty players, nineteen chairs, and when the music stops, someone ends up on the floor. Repeat--nineteen players, eighteen chairs.
This could get ugly, unless you're the board of UTIMCO. Yep, them folks is just a bunch of rubes and rednecks, so don't pay them no attention....
Moral of the tale: Don't mess with Texas. (And take delivery while you can...)
(Disclosure--long gold and silver--in self defense, 'cuz the money printing will eat us all up before too long.)
Philadelphia Orchestra Files For Bankruptcy, Detroit Symphony Resumes Its Season
The contrast between the situations is evident--utter acrimony in Detroit and a classy sense of heartbreak in Philly.
The letter from the Philadelphia Orchestra management is here.
We are writing to inform you that despite the incredible artistry of the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra and their diligence and hard work as collaborative partners, the Board of The Philadelphia Orchestra Association has made the difficult decision to file for Chapter 11 protection. Our financial situation is serious and the simple facts are these:
- Our operating funds are rapidly dwindling and will be exhausted by June 2011.
- While the Orchestra does not have any debt, we are operating at a significant loss with a structural deficit of $14.5 million.
Let us assure you, first and foremost, that our concerts will go on as scheduled, including this evening’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Indeed, the music plays on!
Yet, let us be frank about the myriad factors contributing to the financial challenges we face. Our structural deficit has been created by a decline in ticket revenues, decreased donations, eroding endowment income, pension obligations, contractual agreements, and operational costs. Our beloved musicians made multiple generous concessions during the collective bargaining negotiations. Our Board donated more than $9.5 million above and beyond annual giving. And our professional staff was both reduced and agreed to pay cuts. These proactive and important steps were simply not enough to solve all of the issues we face.
We are now on the front end of a great readjustment in the culture, long overdue in reality.
This organization will likely rise from the dead, stronger than ever, and deserves to.
Hopefully, other organizations in the not-for-profit world, that do so much to define and enrich our culture, will take a cue from this letter.
Meanwhile, back in Detroit....how not to go through the readjustment.
The letter from the Philadelphia Orchestra management is here.
We are writing to inform you that despite the incredible artistry of the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra and their diligence and hard work as collaborative partners, the Board of The Philadelphia Orchestra Association has made the difficult decision to file for Chapter 11 protection. Our financial situation is serious and the simple facts are these:
- Our operating funds are rapidly dwindling and will be exhausted by June 2011.
- While the Orchestra does not have any debt, we are operating at a significant loss with a structural deficit of $14.5 million.
Let us assure you, first and foremost, that our concerts will go on as scheduled, including this evening’s performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4. Indeed, the music plays on!
Yet, let us be frank about the myriad factors contributing to the financial challenges we face. Our structural deficit has been created by a decline in ticket revenues, decreased donations, eroding endowment income, pension obligations, contractual agreements, and operational costs. Our beloved musicians made multiple generous concessions during the collective bargaining negotiations. Our Board donated more than $9.5 million above and beyond annual giving. And our professional staff was both reduced and agreed to pay cuts. These proactive and important steps were simply not enough to solve all of the issues we face.
We are now on the front end of a great readjustment in the culture, long overdue in reality.
This organization will likely rise from the dead, stronger than ever, and deserves to.
Hopefully, other organizations in the not-for-profit world, that do so much to define and enrich our culture, will take a cue from this letter.
Meanwhile, back in Detroit....how not to go through the readjustment.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Step Ten Begins For Detroit Public Schools: Layoff Notice Sent To Every Teacher
The NEA sent the announcement around to the constituency today, without the usual flood of leftist invective. It's as if, finally, reality is beginning to set in. The Stimulus kept Detroit schools afloat one final year, likely in the attempt to buy enough votes in 2010 to keep the Congress in Democrat hands, or hoping that the economy would rise from the dead after decades of decline.
Neither happened. Even Himself is making appropriate noises in public about reducing spending, even if he obviously means not a word of it. In any case, there will be no no Stimulus Part Two. Not even on the radar.
Detroit has fallen to its population of 1910. The public school system is unsustainable in its present form, and no amount of invective will change that. It isn't that DoseWascawyRepubwikans can be blamed, since Detroit has been in the hands of the Democrats for decades. They ran the city and school system both. Into the ground, as it turns out.
So, Reuters reports:
The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.
In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."
Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.
The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union's current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won't take effect until late July.
In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district's collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.
Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state's new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency.
"I fully intend to use the authority that was granted under Public Act 4," Bobb said in the statement.
A quick search about Public Act 4 leads one to the State of Michigan website, with a summary of the law--twelve steps involved (irony not lost upon us...), and we pick up toward the end:
Step Nine: If the Governor confirms the determination of a financial emergency, the Governor is required to declare the unit of local government in receivership and appoint an Emergency Manager who serves at the pleasure of the Governor.
Step Ten: Upon being placed in receivership, the governing body and chief administrative officer of the unit of local government are prohibited from exercising any of their powers of offices without written approval of the Emergency Manager, and their compensation and benefits are eliminated.
Step Eleven: Within 45 days of appointment, an Emergency Manager must develop a written financial and operating plan.
In addition to other powers, an Emergency Manager may reject, modify, or terminate collective bargaining agreements, recommend consolidation or dissolution of units of local government, and recommend bankruptcy proceedings.
Step Twelve: A unit of local government is removed from receivership when the financial conditions which were the basis for the underlying financial emergency are corrected in a sustainable fashion as determined by the State Treasurer in accordance with the Act.
Detroit Public Schools are at Step Ten. No amount of name calling, marching on the capitol, striking, work slowdowns, ballot-box stuffing, voting the dead, voting the illegal aliens, voting the felons, race-baiting, or any of the standard repertoire of The Left changes the fact that Detroit has shrunk dramatically in size from its once great status. The can was kicked so far down the road, for so long, that Detroit ran out of road.
By the way, the layoffs begin in Wisconsin next Friday, as promised by Governor Walker earlier this year.
Neither happened. Even Himself is making appropriate noises in public about reducing spending, even if he obviously means not a word of it. In any case, there will be no no Stimulus Part Two. Not even on the radar.
Detroit has fallen to its population of 1910. The public school system is unsustainable in its present form, and no amount of invective will change that. It isn't that DoseWascawyRepubwikans can be blamed, since Detroit has been in the hands of the Democrats for decades. They ran the city and school system both. Into the ground, as it turns out.
So, Reuters reports:
The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit's troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district's 5,466 unionized employees.
In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district's temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers "in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district's declining student enrollment."
Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.
The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union's current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won't take effect until late July.
In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district's collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.
Under a law known as Public Act 4, passed by the Michigan legislature and signed by the state's new Republican governor in March, emergency managers like Bobb have sweeping powers. They can tear up existing union contracts, and even fire some elected officials, if they believe it will help solve a financial emergency.
"I fully intend to use the authority that was granted under Public Act 4," Bobb said in the statement.
A quick search about Public Act 4 leads one to the State of Michigan website, with a summary of the law--twelve steps involved (irony not lost upon us...), and we pick up toward the end:
Step Nine: If the Governor confirms the determination of a financial emergency, the Governor is required to declare the unit of local government in receivership and appoint an Emergency Manager who serves at the pleasure of the Governor.
Step Ten: Upon being placed in receivership, the governing body and chief administrative officer of the unit of local government are prohibited from exercising any of their powers of offices without written approval of the Emergency Manager, and their compensation and benefits are eliminated.
Step Eleven: Within 45 days of appointment, an Emergency Manager must develop a written financial and operating plan.
In addition to other powers, an Emergency Manager may reject, modify, or terminate collective bargaining agreements, recommend consolidation or dissolution of units of local government, and recommend bankruptcy proceedings.
Step Twelve: A unit of local government is removed from receivership when the financial conditions which were the basis for the underlying financial emergency are corrected in a sustainable fashion as determined by the State Treasurer in accordance with the Act.
Detroit Public Schools are at Step Ten. No amount of name calling, marching on the capitol, striking, work slowdowns, ballot-box stuffing, voting the dead, voting the illegal aliens, voting the felons, race-baiting, or any of the standard repertoire of The Left changes the fact that Detroit has shrunk dramatically in size from its once great status. The can was kicked so far down the road, for so long, that Detroit ran out of road.
By the way, the layoffs begin in Wisconsin next Friday, as promised by Governor Walker earlier this year.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Chevron CEO John Watson Cuts Through Obama's Crap: WSJ Weekend
The interview is here.
There is a set of unarguable verities shared by The Left. As soon as someone dares suggest those verities aren't, well, true, the serious name-calling begins.
One is: Israel Bad/Hamas Good
Then there's: There really is no problem with gubbermint borrowing 41 cents of every dollar we spend. There is an endless supply, obtained either by printing or taxation. To suggest spending even a nickel less is to advocate throwing Grandma and her walker under the bus.
And one of Himself's favorites: We gonnah' shut them big-bad ohl cumpaneez down, and run the kuntry on wind power, solar power and biofuels. We don't need no ohl, 'cuz it kills them cute liddle poler bearz.
Finally, a head of an oil company willing to push back, politely, with the truth.
There is no oil shortage in America. There is a shortage of brains and common sense among our political class, which regularly leads us back to $4 and $5 gasoline and diesel. Which, oddly enough, people like Obama and Reid think is somehow wonderful.
Enter the tall, bespectacled Mr. Watson, who a little more than a year ago stepped into the shoes of longtime CEO David O'Reilly. An economist by training, soft-spoken by nature, the 53-year-old Mr. Watson is hardly some swaggering wildcatter. Yet in a year of speeches, he has emerged as one of the industry's foremost energy realists. No "Beyond Petroleum" (BP) for him. On energy, he says, America "has a lot to learn."
Starting with the argument—so popular among greens and Democrats—that we are running out of oil. "Peak oil"—the theory that global oil production will soon hit maximum levels and begin to decline—is a favorite among this crowd, and it is one basis for their call for more biofuels and solar power. Mr. Watson doesn't dismiss the idea but explains why it remains largely irrelevant.
In theory, he says, "we've been running out of oil and gas for a long time," yet technology creates new opportunities. Mr. Watson cites a Chevron field long in decline down the road in Bakersfield—to the point that for every 100 barrels of oil "in place," the company was extracting only 10 or 20. But thanks to a new technology called steam flooding, Chevron is now getting 70 to 80 barrels. "Price creates incentive, and energy will be developed if there's demand for it at the price you can develop it," Mr. Watson says. In that sense, "oil and gas are plentiful."
Don't believe it? Over the past 30 years, even as "peak oil" was a trendy theme, the world's proven reserves of oil and natural gas increased 130%, to 2.5 trillion barrels.
And that little lie about 'alternative energy'? Well, it's...a lie.
Mr. Watson has little time for the Beltway fiction that America will soon be able to do without, or nearly without, fossil fuels. Yes, "we need all forms of energy." But the world consumes 250 million barrels of energy equivalent today, only a "tiny fraction of which" is wind and solar—and even those "are not affordable at scale," he says.
As for biofuels, "we would need to consume land the size of states" to hit the country's current ethanol targets. Chevron is investigating biofuels, but Mr. Watson says the "economics aren't there" yet. Unlike many CEOs, Mr. Watson insists on products that can prosper without federal subsidies, which he believes are costly and lacking in transparency when "consumer pockets are tight, government pockets are tight."
Bottom line: "We're going to need oil and gas and coal for a long time if America wants to keep the lights on."
Then there's deep-water drilling, the BoogeyMan of The Left:
But what about the BP Gulf spill? Mr. Watson blames the "cultural aspects and behavioral aspects" of the particular drilling rig that exploded. He roundly disagrees with the finding of Mr. Obama's spill commission that the "root causes" of the spill were "systemic" to the industry.
"There is no evidence to support that. I don't know how that conclusion was reached. I know the industry has drilled 14,000 deep water wells without having this sort of problem." As for the moratorium, "I can understand taking a pause. I can't understand shutting down a whole industry for a better part of a year."
OS can--Obama and company want to kill it off, and to punish the states that didn't knuckle under and vote for him last time. That one doesn't require an MIT degree to discern. But, then again, Mr. Watson is a gentleman, and isn't obligated to share the entire contents of his mind with an interviewer.
It's a refreshing read. It needs to be shared far and wide.
There is a set of unarguable verities shared by The Left. As soon as someone dares suggest those verities aren't, well, true, the serious name-calling begins.
One is: Israel Bad/Hamas Good
Then there's: There really is no problem with gubbermint borrowing 41 cents of every dollar we spend. There is an endless supply, obtained either by printing or taxation. To suggest spending even a nickel less is to advocate throwing Grandma and her walker under the bus.
And one of Himself's favorites: We gonnah' shut them big-bad ohl cumpaneez down, and run the kuntry on wind power, solar power and biofuels. We don't need no ohl, 'cuz it kills them cute liddle poler bearz.
Finally, a head of an oil company willing to push back, politely, with the truth.
There is no oil shortage in America. There is a shortage of brains and common sense among our political class, which regularly leads us back to $4 and $5 gasoline and diesel. Which, oddly enough, people like Obama and Reid think is somehow wonderful.
Enter the tall, bespectacled Mr. Watson, who a little more than a year ago stepped into the shoes of longtime CEO David O'Reilly. An economist by training, soft-spoken by nature, the 53-year-old Mr. Watson is hardly some swaggering wildcatter. Yet in a year of speeches, he has emerged as one of the industry's foremost energy realists. No "Beyond Petroleum" (BP) for him. On energy, he says, America "has a lot to learn."
Starting with the argument—so popular among greens and Democrats—that we are running out of oil. "Peak oil"—the theory that global oil production will soon hit maximum levels and begin to decline—is a favorite among this crowd, and it is one basis for their call for more biofuels and solar power. Mr. Watson doesn't dismiss the idea but explains why it remains largely irrelevant.
In theory, he says, "we've been running out of oil and gas for a long time," yet technology creates new opportunities. Mr. Watson cites a Chevron field long in decline down the road in Bakersfield—to the point that for every 100 barrels of oil "in place," the company was extracting only 10 or 20. But thanks to a new technology called steam flooding, Chevron is now getting 70 to 80 barrels. "Price creates incentive, and energy will be developed if there's demand for it at the price you can develop it," Mr. Watson says. In that sense, "oil and gas are plentiful."
Don't believe it? Over the past 30 years, even as "peak oil" was a trendy theme, the world's proven reserves of oil and natural gas increased 130%, to 2.5 trillion barrels.
And that little lie about 'alternative energy'? Well, it's...a lie.
Mr. Watson has little time for the Beltway fiction that America will soon be able to do without, or nearly without, fossil fuels. Yes, "we need all forms of energy." But the world consumes 250 million barrels of energy equivalent today, only a "tiny fraction of which" is wind and solar—and even those "are not affordable at scale," he says.
As for biofuels, "we would need to consume land the size of states" to hit the country's current ethanol targets. Chevron is investigating biofuels, but Mr. Watson says the "economics aren't there" yet. Unlike many CEOs, Mr. Watson insists on products that can prosper without federal subsidies, which he believes are costly and lacking in transparency when "consumer pockets are tight, government pockets are tight."
Bottom line: "We're going to need oil and gas and coal for a long time if America wants to keep the lights on."
Then there's deep-water drilling, the BoogeyMan of The Left:
But what about the BP Gulf spill? Mr. Watson blames the "cultural aspects and behavioral aspects" of the particular drilling rig that exploded. He roundly disagrees with the finding of Mr. Obama's spill commission that the "root causes" of the spill were "systemic" to the industry.
"There is no evidence to support that. I don't know how that conclusion was reached. I know the industry has drilled 14,000 deep water wells without having this sort of problem." As for the moratorium, "I can understand taking a pause. I can't understand shutting down a whole industry for a better part of a year."
OS can--Obama and company want to kill it off, and to punish the states that didn't knuckle under and vote for him last time. That one doesn't require an MIT degree to discern. But, then again, Mr. Watson is a gentleman, and isn't obligated to share the entire contents of his mind with an interviewer.
It's a refreshing read. It needs to be shared far and wide.
Remember The Mantra: Israel Bad/Hamas Good, Israel Bad/Hamas Good,Israel Bad/Hamas Good--(keep going until you believe it...)
GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas found the body Friday of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist who was killed by al Qaeda sympathizers in the Gaza Strip, raising questions about Hamas's control over the beleaguered enclave. Two men were arrested and others were being sought for the abduction and killing of Vittorio Arrigoni, 36, who was found strangled in an abandoned house Friday, Hamas officials said.
A group of strict Islamists aligned with al Qaeda, known as Salafists, had threatened Thursday to execute Arrigoni unless their leader, detained by Hamas last month, was freed.
It was an unprecedented challenge for Hamas, an Islamist group whose diehard hostility to Israel has deepened the isolation and poverty of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
"Gaza is safe and I want to assure all visitors to Gaza that they are safe and secure," Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, told a French journalist.
"The crime that took place was an isolated incident ... and we will enforce the law against the perpetrators."
Hamas vehemently opposes the Salafists who espouse a more extreme form of Islam and appear to be attracting recruits -- including from among its own ranks.
Salafists see Hamas as insufficiently zealous, have attacked Internet cafes and want Christians expelled. They deplore Hamas for considering ceasefires with Israel and exploring political accommodation with secular Palestinian rivals.
And, from Donald Sensing, a story with video just too horrifying to describe...
A group of strict Islamists aligned with al Qaeda, known as Salafists, had threatened Thursday to execute Arrigoni unless their leader, detained by Hamas last month, was freed.
It was an unprecedented challenge for Hamas, an Islamist group whose diehard hostility to Israel has deepened the isolation and poverty of Gaza, home to 1.5 million Palestinians.
"Gaza is safe and I want to assure all visitors to Gaza that they are safe and secure," Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister, told a French journalist.
"The crime that took place was an isolated incident ... and we will enforce the law against the perpetrators."
Hamas vehemently opposes the Salafists who espouse a more extreme form of Islam and appear to be attracting recruits -- including from among its own ranks.
Salafists see Hamas as insufficiently zealous, have attacked Internet cafes and want Christians expelled. They deplore Hamas for considering ceasefires with Israel and exploring political accommodation with secular Palestinian rivals.
And, from Donald Sensing, a story with video just too horrifying to describe...
Singing Bach In The Ruins: Easter 1950 Dresden, Easter 2011 Here
A Facebook friend sent along a link to this video a few days ago, and OS has been meditating upon since seeing it. It's a 1950 recording of a German boy named Peter Schreier, singing one of the alto arias from Bach's St. John Passion--Es ist vollbracht--It is finished.
Schreier grew up, and became one of the great tenors of the twentieth century. It's easy to hear the promise in that boy's voice as he sings.
What struck OS most was not just the boy's voice. It was the boy's voice, recorded so beautifully in 1950 Dresden, still in rubble from the British fire-bombing of World War II. It was a miracle he was alive, and that Bach was still being played, sung and recorded in that place that year.
The video is worth viewing for the beauty of the music, and for the photos that pan as the music plays. The most telling is a shot of the boys choir in their cassocks, outside the church, singing in a rubble-filled street. They literally sang Bach amongst the ruins of one of the world's great cities. They kept showing up, despite the devastation around them, and the losses they had suffered, to sing Bach in church.
OS has friends who recently visited Dresden and Leipzig, and attended concerts and services in the old Lutheran churches. They came back with reports that faith and hope were alive and well in those buildings, in contrast to the weary cynicism encountered in The West.
Easter approaches, and OS wishes his readers a blessed one. We live in much more comfort, most of us, than those children in Dresden, but to hold to a Christian faith here increasingly means singing in the ruins of a culture that decided to self-destruct.
The message is--It is finished. Evil cannot possibly win in the end, because death itself has been conquered. And we will not always sing in the ruins. There is a day and time appointed when all will be set right.
Until then, though, we sing.
Lyrics:
Es ist vollbracht!
O Trost vor die gekränkten Seelen!
Die Trauernacht
Läßt nun die letzte Stunde zählen.
Der Held aus Juda siegt mit Macht
und schließt den Kampf.
Es ist vollbracht!
Translation:
It is fulfilled!
O hope for ev'ry ailing spirit!
The night of grief
Is now its final hours counting.
The man of Judah wins with might
And ends the fight.
It is fulfilled!
Schreier grew up, and became one of the great tenors of the twentieth century. It's easy to hear the promise in that boy's voice as he sings.
What struck OS most was not just the boy's voice. It was the boy's voice, recorded so beautifully in 1950 Dresden, still in rubble from the British fire-bombing of World War II. It was a miracle he was alive, and that Bach was still being played, sung and recorded in that place that year.
The video is worth viewing for the beauty of the music, and for the photos that pan as the music plays. The most telling is a shot of the boys choir in their cassocks, outside the church, singing in a rubble-filled street. They literally sang Bach amongst the ruins of one of the world's great cities. They kept showing up, despite the devastation around them, and the losses they had suffered, to sing Bach in church.
OS has friends who recently visited Dresden and Leipzig, and attended concerts and services in the old Lutheran churches. They came back with reports that faith and hope were alive and well in those buildings, in contrast to the weary cynicism encountered in The West.
Easter approaches, and OS wishes his readers a blessed one. We live in much more comfort, most of us, than those children in Dresden, but to hold to a Christian faith here increasingly means singing in the ruins of a culture that decided to self-destruct.
The message is--It is finished. Evil cannot possibly win in the end, because death itself has been conquered. And we will not always sing in the ruins. There is a day and time appointed when all will be set right.
Until then, though, we sing.
Lyrics:
Es ist vollbracht!
O Trost vor die gekränkten Seelen!
Die Trauernacht
Läßt nun die letzte Stunde zählen.
Der Held aus Juda siegt mit Macht
und schließt den Kampf.
Es ist vollbracht!
Translation:
It is fulfilled!
O hope for ev'ry ailing spirit!
The night of grief
Is now its final hours counting.
The man of Judah wins with might
And ends the fight.
It is fulfilled!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)