Gus Exposito couldn’t believe what he saw in the marble walls of South Beach’s W Hotel: a larger-than-life framed photograph of what looked like Cuban communist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.
“He was a mass murderer, killed thousands of Cubans execution-style,” Exposito, 51, wrote in an email, comparing the long-dead Fidel Castro pal to Adolf Hitler or the KKK. “I spoke to the manager and he referred to it as art!”
Turns out, it’s probably not Che. It’s another artist’s rendering of the revolutionary. But Exposito says it’s offensive nonetheless, raising the question: Is an image of an offensive image offensive? Is it art? Both?
RICHMOND, VA—More than 600 part-time employees at the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control will soon have their hours cut as the state prepares to enact the Affordable Care Act.
Under the Affordable Care Act, employers would be required to offer health care insurance to employees who work more than 30 hour a week.
As a result, legislation to limit the number of hours worked by the Commonwealth’s part-time work force was introduced in January and will be enacted in late April, a memo from the Virginia ABC said.
A Virginia ABC employee contacted 8News about the change, saying he’ll soon lose nine to 11 hours of pay each week, when the new policy goes into effect.
Turning us into a dependent State, one voter at a time.
Seriously, it’s a brilliant and basically unstoppable plan by the Progressives: get elected by promising massive give-aways, enact them, forcing businesses (and state governments!) to lay-off/cut people’s hours to try to handle the cost of implementing these programs, and this forces more people onto the dole.
After grimly vowing to hold out, days later caving and picking out a cheap-o replacement to be built on Dell’s business site, then being forced by circumstances to check the NEX for a possible immediate replacement (and finding a superior system for $179 more, w/ no tax or shipping involved), I bit.
…”The court recognized the absurdity of fining companies for failing to use a nonexistent biofuel,” said Bob Greco, director of downstream operations for the American Petroleum Institute, the principal lobbying group for the oil and gas industry.
Greco said he was astonished that EPA would nearly double the mandate for biofuel in 2013. “EPA needs a serious reality check,” he said, calling the mandate a “stealth tax on gasoline” and an “egregious example of bad public policy.”
Even though a court recognizes the “absurdity” of fines for non-use of non-existent fuels, the EPA doubles up the requirement of non-existent fuel you can’t get, so they can fine you twice as much for not using it.
Current situation: Staffers talk about first meeting with Al Jazeera
Just call him Al Gorezeera.
Yesterday morning, the still shell shocked staff at Current TV was called to an all hands staff meeting at its San Francisco headquarters, which was teleconferenced to their offices in LA and NYC, to meet their new bosses.
That would be two of Al Jazeera’s top guys: Ehab Al Shihabi, executive director of international operations, and Muftah AlSuwaidan, general manager of the London bureau.
Ominously missing was the creator of Current, the self proclaimed inventor of the Internet and savior of clean energy, Al Gore, although his partner, Joel Hyatt, stood proudly with the Al Jazeera honchos.
“Of course Al didn’t show up,” said one high placed Current staffer. “He has no credibility.”
“He’s supposed to be the face of clean energy and just sold [the channel] to very big oil, the emir of Qatar! Current never even took big oil advertising—and Al Gore, that bulls***ter sells to the emir?”
Then you really have to ask yourself, “What took those moops so long to see through that pretentious asshat?” The ability of the Left for convenient self-delusion and righteous indignation when the bulb finally is switched on never, ever ceases to amaze me.
Al Jazeera’s New Channel Struggles for US Distribution
Al Jazeera’s announced plans to establish a new U.S. cable news channel via the purchase of Current TV isn’t even 48 hours old and already it finds itself in a vicious battle to retain distribution rights.
Al Jazeera’s acquisition of Current TV is basically a pay-for-distribution play. The Qatar-backed network plans to replace Current TV in the more than 40 million homes where it is currently distributed with its own news network, tentatively dubbed Al Jazeera America. The new network’s success is predicated on maintaining, if not increasing, that level of distribution.
One person with knowledge of cable TV deals said pay-TV operators will definitely seek more favorable terms from Al Jazeera since,
“no one wanted to carry Current TV and they want to carry an Al Jazeera channel even less.“
Wall Street Worries Washington Will Wreck Economy – CNBC Survey
Wall Street’s concerns about Washington are escalating, with the December CNBC Fed Survey finding growing investor angst about a recession, the fiscal cliff and the Fed’s monetary policy.
The 48 economists, fund managers and strategists who responded to the survey rank the “fiscal cliff” as the top threat facing the U.S. economy and, partly as a result, put the chance of recession in the next year at a 13-month high of nearly 29 percent.
…Chris Rupkey of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi said the Fed “wrecked the money market and now their actions are wrecking the bond market… As long as they keep doing this it tells the public the economy is still not right in their view. This policy is starting to look like a mistake.“
There is now more deserted office space in Lower Manhattan because of Hurricane Sandy than there are offices in many cities. Mobile boilers line the streets. Portable generators are stacked to the curbs. Ventilation tubes coil around scaffolds, snake above sidewalks, quiver and pulse. It is as if bodies had been turned inside out, exposing the hearts, lungs and organs that are normally internal. Of course, these devices keep the buildings running in some limited ways. Still, 15 million to 18 million square feet of space is unusable, about as much as exists in any condition whatsoever in cities like Miami, Phoenix and San Diego.
There are hundreds of small businesses that aren’t coming back, thousands out of work.
Citigroup to Slash $1.1 Billion in Expenses; Cuts 11,000 Jobs
Citigroup on Wednesday announced plans to cut 11,000 jobs and close branches in a restructuring effort that will result in a fourth-quarter charge of about $1.1 billion.
Citi said the cuts come as it attempts to further reduce expenses and improve efficiency.
There’s potential in Portland and of course the big one set for December 29th here on the East Coast, but don’t think the folks on the Left Coast aren’t going to flex their muscles a bit
LOS ANGELES—Most of the nation’s largest port complex is shut down as clerical workers strike the Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals. Union spokesman Craig Merrilees says members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union are picketing Thursday.
Port spokesmen say seven of eight Los Angeles terminals and three of six in Long Beach are closed. In LA, 14 ships in dock and in the harbor aren’t being serviced.
On Wednesday, dockworkers refused to cross clerical worker picket lines even though an arbitrator ruled the strike invalid.
The clerical workers have been locked in a contract dispute with more than a dozen shippers for 2 1/2 years. They claim terminal operators have been outsourcing their jobs overseas. Shippers deny that and say they’ve even offered to guarantee local jobs.
The issue?
At issue is the union’s contention that terminal operators have outsourced jobs to lower-paid paperwork pushers in the U.S. and places such as Costa Rica, India and Taiwan. A union release contended that 51 clerical jobs have been lost in the past five years.
The negotiating group for the shippers denied that any local union clerical jobs were outsourced and said in a statement that the 51 workers had quit, died or retired with full benefits in the past three years.
Their positions weren’t filled because there was no “business need,” said a statement from the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Employers Association. In addition, the companies have offered to guarantee current union clerical workers their jobs for life, Berry said.
He claimed that the union wants contract language to permit “featherbedding”—the practice of requiring employers to call in temporary employees and hire new permanent employees even when there is no work to perform.
Unions turned out big and put Obama’s re-election over the top; they will expect to be rewarded.
…While the growth pace was much quicker than the 2.0 percent rate the government estimated last month and the best since the fourth quarter of 2011, it was hardly a sign of strength in the economy given the boost from restocking and weaker consumer spending.
Tastes like ass, quite frankly. Broke my heart. I’ve only ever loved WonderBread crust, because the middle’s a mushy mess. But “better living through chemicals” as Kcruella as always says, since their things are CHEAP, impervious to the temperature swings of your average urchin’s lunch bag and have the shelf-life of petrified dinosaur dung.
I hope everyone who went along with the cuts to keep the company afloat let fling with a few choice words at the assholes who sunk the ship and put them all out on the street. (Sounds like the folks who voted for Gary Johnson, eh? Oh, YEAH! You, GO, Libertarians, big strong guys!)
We are sorry to announce that Hostess Brands, Inc. has been forced by a Bakers Union strike to shut down all operations and sell all company assets. For more information, go to hostessbrands.info. Thank you for all of your loyalty and support over the years.
Sheesh. **sniffle**
The Atkins’ twits took out Prince Spaghetti and now THIS.
Another shoe from my childhood drops like a stone into the pool of oblivion.
Your right to resell your own stuff is in peril It could become illegal to resell your iPhone 4, car or family antiques
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Tucked into the U.S. Supreme Court’s agenda this fall is a little-known case that could upend your ability to resell everything from your grandmother’s antique furniture to your iPhone 4.
At issue in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons is the first-sale doctrine in copyright law, which allows you to buy and then sell things like electronics, books, artwork and furniture, as well as CDs and DVDs, without getting permission from the copyright holder of those products.
Under the doctrine, which the Supreme Court has recognized since 1908, you can resell your stuff without worry because the copyright holder only had control over the first sale.
Put simply, though Apple Inc. /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL -2.13% has the copyright on the iPhone and Mark Owen has it on the book “No Easy Day,” you can still sell your copies to whomever you please whenever you want without retribution.
That’s being challenged now for products that are made abroad, and if the Supreme Court upholds an appellate court ruling, it would mean that the copyright holders of anything you own that has been made in China, Japan or Europe, for example, would have to give you permission to sell it.
…The case stems from Supap Kirtsaeng’s college experience. A native of Thailand, Kirtsaeng came to America in 1997 to study at Cornell University. When he discovered that his textbooks, produced by Wiley, were substantially cheaper to buy in Thailand than they were in Ithaca, N.Y., he rallied his Thai relatives to buy the books and ship them to him in the United States.
He then sold them on eBay, making upward of $1.2 million, according to court documents.
Wiley, which admitted that it charged less for books sold abroad than it did in the United States, sued him for copyright infringement. Kirtsaeng countered with the first-sale doctrine.
He sounds like an all American entrepreneur to me and too bad for the book publisher!
The corner of Broad Street and Wall Street. One of the most prestigious locations in the world. Directly across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. As “1%” as it could possibly get.
And what fine high-falutin’ retail upper crusty establishment is there, I hear you ask, ready to service the gilded needs of the Barons and Tycoons and Geckos that spew forth from the pits of extreme money earning just a scant few yards across the street?
Well, actually, for the past few years the place has been empty, home to naught but the occasional cultural exhibit…and police in riot gear cradling M4s.
But now, thanks to the Super™ Amazing™ Recovery™ Summer™ we have been enjoying I can say FEAR NOT Dear Friends, for our economic salvation is at hand! Yes, as sure as the swallows returning to Capistrano herald the arrival of, er, well something I can tell you that the fine good green J-O-B-S (to use the Administrations favorite “3-letter word”) have returned:
That ROUSING durable goods nosedive is the worse in 3 1/2 YEARS and, well, what can you say about a leisurely GDP number in the low ONES, other than “THANKS for ALL the effort on our behalf“?
Four more years of this whiney douche-bag?
Telling you, won’t be much left after that.
What baffles me is his “likeability”, ’cause I haven’t seen one damn thing I could even STOMACH about him or his gang of toadies in, like, well, we’re talking years.
ths afterthought:
At rate Obama destroying what little’s left of the economy,”Bush” whine works 4 NEXT President. He’ll get stuck w/ exact same thing #DejaVu
For decades after World War II, California was a destination for Americans in search of a better life. In many people’s minds, it was the state with more jobs, more space, more sunlight, and more opportunity. They voted with their feet, and California grew spectacularly (its population increased by 137 percent between 1960 and 2010). However, this golden age of migration into the state is over. For the past two decades, California has been sending more people to other American states than it receives from them. Since 1990, the state has lost nearly 3.4 million residents through this migration.
A portion of my screen-cap of the event picture, just in case it goes down the rabbithole. The caption reads:
#DVF:”This is a non-republican audience!!!” Crowd: “Cheers, Screams”
More ths: What makes this even more replusive is that she did this during Fashion’s Night Out, whose reason for existence is to celebrate fashion, yes, but also “The official beneficiary charity of the Fashion’s Night Out collection is the New York City AIDS Fund in the Community Trust.” Perhaps she’d care to remember that there’s been one helluva a lot of Republican and conservative faces on the frontlines and in the trenches of the Aids/HIV care movement from the very beginning. RELIGIOUS organizations, especially Catholic Charities, began nurturing and caring for gay men mysteriously dying horrible deaths in San Francisco and points beyond in the 70’s, long before it became trendy and politically acceptable for fashion icons to cavalierly dismiss a whole class of people while sashaying to a soiree.
Plenty of us support(ed) FNO, for just that very fundraising. Do ALL the organizers feel this way, too?
Hilary Rosen, the Obama strategist who infamously disparaged Ann Romney back in April, saying Romney never worked a day on her life, had a quite different take on the new unemployment numbers for August, which showed that the labor participation in the United States was at a 31 year low.
Rosen tweeted:
Entrepreneurs and self employed leave the “work force”. That is a hopeful thing. People leaving aren’t necessarily bad.
#ObamaIsntWorking
ths Sunday Talk Show update: Oh, wait! Another Obama rocket scientist has the rest of the explanation!
On @foxnews, a clueless Austin Goolsbee shrugs off shrinking work force as “children going to school” and people retiring
Because $16+ trillion is really not enough and their efforts to this stage have worked so brilliantly folks at the Federal Reserve have decided to give themselves blank checks
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke says the U.S. economy is “far from satisfactory.” His colleagues are moving to embrace policies that will stay in place until he’s satisfied.
Four Fed presidents have come out in favor of an open-ended strategy for bond buying, with three calling for the program to begin now. Rather than specify a fixed amount of bonds to purchase by a certain date, such a strategy would leave the Fed able to announce a pace of purchases that it could adjust as the economy gets closer to Bernanke’s goals.
They are completely out of control and beyond reason. They have held interest rates near zero since late 2008, racked up trillions in debt and further trillions in interest liabilities and we have what, exactly to show for it?
They failed, the policy was wrong and it’s time to end it.
Biz, Humanity...or the Lack Thereof, Media | tree hugging sister | 
February 13, 2013 3:09 pm | 
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