Finally, the smoke cleared today, and Representative Pelosi will remain as head of the Democratic Representatives in Congress. The vote? Heath Shuler put up a bit of a fight and the final tally was Nancy with 150 votes and Heath with 43 votes.
I think this was a great victory for the Democrats. The image of Nancy will continue on and folks will not have to force themselves to recognize anything new for the Democratic party.
Heath mostly picked up what was left from the southern Democrats and it was their last chance to try for some recovery in 2012. Currently....with this team....if you were a southern Democrat still surviving....you can pretty much count on your seat being vacated to a Republican challenger in twenty-four months.
This game really shifts down to even the lower levels where you were just a state-house Democrat in Mississippi or Tennessee....and now you know you have to find some vastly different image by summer of 2012 to survive.
In a way, it reminds you of a NCAA football team who has scrapped by with a 2-10 season and the coach proudly announces he's got an extension for another year. Everyone on the team would like a change but frankly, the university just isn't buying that argument.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
NPR & Its Funding
NPR says that it's official funding from the US government is around three percent. They almost say with pride, but then they also say that they couldn't possibly survive without it. So they need the US government to continue to sponsor that simple three percent.
I sat there and pondered over this. The senate will try to discuss this briefly and cut in this lame duck session. I doubt that the votes exist....so they will wait until January when the Republican-controlled house will bring up the defunding. Via various methods...by October of 2011....my guess is that they will find ways to cut at least half that three percent, and the President and Senate will have to accept that.
There are two questions here. Is NPR being honest that it's only three percent? My guess? No. I think the NPR management crew actually believes most of their own propaganda and aren't really grasping of the fifty various ways of hiding money as it flows into NPR (yeah, a dozen Soros foundations likely sit in the wings and sponsor thirty percent of the funding is my guess). If this were more likely to be twenty percent, it'd really change the management scheme in a drastic way.
So if NPR lost the funding...what next? If it were a lousy three percent as they claim...they could cut a couple of bills....let go of five of their big "stars" and somehow survive. Add a foundation or two, and they could continue on.
I suspect the budget team for NPR is sitting there in a locked room and trying to figure this way of explaining things the right way. The three-percent story works but how long can they survive and who will they lean on to provide the rest?
Twenty years ago....the state of California would have stood up and said they would take care of their entire budget of NPR. Today, they are broke.
Companies? I suspect that most have pushed the plate back and don't want to engage further.
Foundations? With so much money sliding around for political agendas....this might be the only way to survive....being a all-foundation-run organization. It's comical to think of this being possible in this age....but there's no plan B left to execute anymore.
I sat there and pondered over this. The senate will try to discuss this briefly and cut in this lame duck session. I doubt that the votes exist....so they will wait until January when the Republican-controlled house will bring up the defunding. Via various methods...by October of 2011....my guess is that they will find ways to cut at least half that three percent, and the President and Senate will have to accept that.
There are two questions here. Is NPR being honest that it's only three percent? My guess? No. I think the NPR management crew actually believes most of their own propaganda and aren't really grasping of the fifty various ways of hiding money as it flows into NPR (yeah, a dozen Soros foundations likely sit in the wings and sponsor thirty percent of the funding is my guess). If this were more likely to be twenty percent, it'd really change the management scheme in a drastic way.
So if NPR lost the funding...what next? If it were a lousy three percent as they claim...they could cut a couple of bills....let go of five of their big "stars" and somehow survive. Add a foundation or two, and they could continue on.
I suspect the budget team for NPR is sitting there in a locked room and trying to figure this way of explaining things the right way. The three-percent story works but how long can they survive and who will they lean on to provide the rest?
Twenty years ago....the state of California would have stood up and said they would take care of their entire budget of NPR. Today, they are broke.
Companies? I suspect that most have pushed the plate back and don't want to engage further.
Foundations? With so much money sliding around for political agendas....this might be the only way to survive....being a all-foundation-run organization. It's comical to think of this being possible in this age....but there's no plan B left to execute anymore.
Off in Trinidad & Tobago
This is what we know.
At a Trinidad and Tobago high school....a bunch of female students....mostly all high school gals....got into a very mysterious situation....falling onto the ground....rolling around....then blabbering for a while in some strange and distant language (unknown to the T & T crowd).
Naturally, things like this don't happen in Trinidad and Tobago. Folks say this all started when the young ladies came up and complained of nausea and headaches.
At the peak of this mess....while up on the second floor....two of the young ladies then tried to toss themselves off the rail and some folks had to grab ahold of them to prevent an of stupidity.
At this point....teachers grabbed ahold of the ladies and dragged them to some central hall area....where a couple launched into some semi-conscious situation. One of the young gentlemen observing all of this then told reporters later that the girls were damn strong and had some bruises appearing on them. One guy then reported he had communicated with the "devil" in one girl. He asked the "devil" what he wanted of the girls and the response from the girl in a "devil-voice" was that he wanted to send the girls to the toilet and just leave them alone.
Course, as you'd expect....Catholic priests then got called and dragged out every ounce of holy water that they had and tossed as much on the girls...then tossed in a bunch of prayers in Latin which nobody really understood but they were satisfied. Adding to this mess of course....folks now say that the school was built on top of a old burial site, although almost all of the neighbors around the school don't know nothing about it being a grave site.
I sat and paused over this. We don't have this kinda thing in Bama much. The fact that it involved mostly all young ladies also kinda made you question if they didn't all have that "time-of-the-month" thing going on and a bunch of guys just interpreted this "devil" thing in the wrong fashion, and the reason for the toilet might have been more obvious if they had asked the right question.
The odds of seventeen ladies all having that "time-of-the-month" thing at the same time? Well, statistically....that is a problem here. I'm sure some engineer somewhere could crack the code on this and give a 44-page page on the odds of this happening.
I'm guessing this has freaked out the school management folks and maybe the union teachers a bit. I'm guessing that some of the guys will be intimidated by the "devil" girls for a while....and then eventually ask one of them out and discover that things are ok except around that "time-of-the-month" period. All in all....if you did live on some small Caribbean Island and didn't have any excitement....this might have been a pretty interesting day.
At a Trinidad and Tobago high school....a bunch of female students....mostly all high school gals....got into a very mysterious situation....falling onto the ground....rolling around....then blabbering for a while in some strange and distant language (unknown to the T & T crowd).
Naturally, things like this don't happen in Trinidad and Tobago. Folks say this all started when the young ladies came up and complained of nausea and headaches.
At the peak of this mess....while up on the second floor....two of the young ladies then tried to toss themselves off the rail and some folks had to grab ahold of them to prevent an of stupidity.
At this point....teachers grabbed ahold of the ladies and dragged them to some central hall area....where a couple launched into some semi-conscious situation. One of the young gentlemen observing all of this then told reporters later that the girls were damn strong and had some bruises appearing on them. One guy then reported he had communicated with the "devil" in one girl. He asked the "devil" what he wanted of the girls and the response from the girl in a "devil-voice" was that he wanted to send the girls to the toilet and just leave them alone.
Course, as you'd expect....Catholic priests then got called and dragged out every ounce of holy water that they had and tossed as much on the girls...then tossed in a bunch of prayers in Latin which nobody really understood but they were satisfied. Adding to this mess of course....folks now say that the school was built on top of a old burial site, although almost all of the neighbors around the school don't know nothing about it being a grave site.
I sat and paused over this. We don't have this kinda thing in Bama much. The fact that it involved mostly all young ladies also kinda made you question if they didn't all have that "time-of-the-month" thing going on and a bunch of guys just interpreted this "devil" thing in the wrong fashion, and the reason for the toilet might have been more obvious if they had asked the right question.
The odds of seventeen ladies all having that "time-of-the-month" thing at the same time? Well, statistically....that is a problem here. I'm sure some engineer somewhere could crack the code on this and give a 44-page page on the odds of this happening.
I'm guessing this has freaked out the school management folks and maybe the union teachers a bit. I'm guessing that some of the guys will be intimidated by the "devil" girls for a while....and then eventually ask one of them out and discover that things are ok except around that "time-of-the-month" period. All in all....if you did live on some small Caribbean Island and didn't have any excitement....this might have been a pretty interesting day.
The Woes of Mr. Rangel
For several months, I've watched the Representative Charles Rangel episode play out.
The screw-ups of Charles? The three that stand out are: (1) Charley simply didn't declare $239,000 to $831,000 in assets on his disclosure forms as you walk in each year and pretend to be a congressman, (2) he continued to play out this game of raising money for a private center named after himself in New York City (even using his own letterhead from congress to accomplish this) which invited folks to donate and get favors via his actions in congress, and (3) he owned a property outside the US (in the Dominican Republic) which he rented out but never reported this income or the property to IRS.
The amusing thing is that Charles was head on the Ways and Means Committee. This is the group of financially smart folks who write down the secret code on how to spend money via congress and the US government.
He went over and begged them as they proceeded into this ethics business that he just didn't want this to happen before the election. The Democrats on the ethics board agreed and forced the issue. So Charles was saved....but this week....it came right back up and Charles said it wasn't the right time because he didn't have any lawyer support (he couldn't afford them anymore but he didn't want to admit that). As he stood there in his $1k suit (I noted this and kinda laughed how sharp he looked when he admitted he was so broke), I felt he'd been in Congress long enough. But the ethics board won't dismiss him. That's the sad part.
He's not really ashamed of anything. The folks in his district aren't ashamed. They'd vote him right back in tomorrow.
I'm guessing the Republicans are already drawing up the 2012 election platform and will use his picture and charges as part of the effort to bring down the Democrats yet again.
After a while, you'd have to realize that this guy really isn't that sharp or he'd realize the impact of each one of these actions. He's like some dimwit who tries to talk relatives out of a $1k loan to pay off some preacher for some funeral for a friend.....but never pays you back.
I'm guessing we are bound to get another two years of Charles....and will laugh over his continued trips to various resorts which end up getting paid by some fancy-pants guy out of New York City. We'll hear about his new $1k suits looking sharp on ABC News. We might even hear about him getting a new car with a heavily discounted dealer. And Charles will just smile and let you know that he's really that stupid and doesn't care about how big a idiot he is.
The screw-ups of Charles? The three that stand out are: (1) Charley simply didn't declare $239,000 to $831,000 in assets on his disclosure forms as you walk in each year and pretend to be a congressman, (2) he continued to play out this game of raising money for a private center named after himself in New York City (even using his own letterhead from congress to accomplish this) which invited folks to donate and get favors via his actions in congress, and (3) he owned a property outside the US (in the Dominican Republic) which he rented out but never reported this income or the property to IRS.
The amusing thing is that Charles was head on the Ways and Means Committee. This is the group of financially smart folks who write down the secret code on how to spend money via congress and the US government.
He went over and begged them as they proceeded into this ethics business that he just didn't want this to happen before the election. The Democrats on the ethics board agreed and forced the issue. So Charles was saved....but this week....it came right back up and Charles said it wasn't the right time because he didn't have any lawyer support (he couldn't afford them anymore but he didn't want to admit that). As he stood there in his $1k suit (I noted this and kinda laughed how sharp he looked when he admitted he was so broke), I felt he'd been in Congress long enough. But the ethics board won't dismiss him. That's the sad part.
He's not really ashamed of anything. The folks in his district aren't ashamed. They'd vote him right back in tomorrow.
I'm guessing the Republicans are already drawing up the 2012 election platform and will use his picture and charges as part of the effort to bring down the Democrats yet again.
After a while, you'd have to realize that this guy really isn't that sharp or he'd realize the impact of each one of these actions. He's like some dimwit who tries to talk relatives out of a $1k loan to pay off some preacher for some funeral for a friend.....but never pays you back.
I'm guessing we are bound to get another two years of Charles....and will laugh over his continued trips to various resorts which end up getting paid by some fancy-pants guy out of New York City. We'll hear about his new $1k suits looking sharp on ABC News. We might even hear about him getting a new car with a heavily discounted dealer. And Charles will just smile and let you know that he's really that stupid and doesn't care about how big a idiot he is.
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