Category: Government

Government: who rules us.

Where did the $800 BILLION for shovel jobs go? Hilary do as Obama did?

shovel ready jobs 2016?
shovel ready jobs 2016?

  Will Hilary  and The  Clinton Foundation waste money, lie and cover up stuff   as Obama does?  Will  Hilary do as Obama did —  re shovel ready jobs?    Looks likely.

 So —  where  did Obama’s  $800 BILLION  Stimulus shovel ready jobs go?

Hilary 2016 promises more of the same — repair the roads, jobs for the 93 MILLION unemployed Americans (half the work force have no job).

Why expect anything different from Hilary than the same old stuff Obama and the Democrats have done for 8 years?

Why did we never know about Obama’s waste of the $800 BILLION for shovel ready jobs?   Because the Democrats  make  it so!  

Here it’s 2016 and Hilary makes repair of roads and highways a top priority.   What happened to all that $800 BILLION Stimulus money that was to go for “shovel ready jobs” in 2009?     Obama promised — and did not deliver.   Hilary & Democrats will  do the same.   

no shovel ready jobs
where did all the 800 BILLION stimulus money for shovel ready jobs go?

Roads and highways:  Five years after signing the Stimulus bill which produced no shovel ready jobs our infra-structure of roads and highways continue to fall apart.

Now 2016 and Hilary promises as top priority  to repair and expand roads. Why believe that Hilary will do anything different?   Not likely.

Union teacher jobs wee protected by Obama.     The Democrat  Party coffers are full of money that came from the union dues of teachers who kept their jobs.

See below for some of the most silly spending of money.

Hilary touts same message:  Now it’s 2016 and as election time rolls near. Obama did not create jobs nor did he fix bridges.  There’s no reason to believe that Hilary Clinton if elected will actually do anything different.

Real way to fix bridges?   Just as FedEx created competition for the federally run U.S. Post Office it’s time to use the private sector to bid and get contracts from the U.S. Congress to rebuild our old roads and fix our “infra-structure”.

Similar to Obama, Clinton in 2016  wants to  ignore Congress and  “fix stuff”  herself. More fraud, more government waste, more Washington running the country.  It’s time to say NO MORE.

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/fixing-americas-infrastructure/

________________

BY: 

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Commonly known as the stimulus, the nearly $1 trillion law was hailed as an opportunity to bring America into the “21st century.”

Just two years after the bill was signed into law, President Barack Obama admitted, “shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected.” While the law failed to create jobs as promised, it has provided plenty of examples of waste, fraud, and abuse.

Five years and at least $816.3 billion later, here are 10 ways the government wasted taxpayer money.

10) $1.3 Million for Stimulus Highway Signs

Stimulus Jobs

AP

$1.3 million was spent for signs on highways to advertise that infrastructure spending was paid for by the stimulus.

A spokesperson from the Ohio Department of Transportation said taxpayers want to know “where their stimulus dollars went,” after spending $1 million on the signs. Pennsylvania ($140,000), New York ($100,000), and Colorado ($55,000) also spent money on the road signs brought to you by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

9) $152K to Get Lesbians Ready for ‘Adoptive Parenthood’

Beth Asaro, Joanne Schailey

AP

The law spent $152,000 on a study by Clark University, in Worcester, Mass., designed to stimulate adoption by lesbians. Trustees at the university interviewed 50 lesbian couples to “investigate the unique strengths and potential challenges of lesbian couples” as parents.

8) $600,000 to Plant Trees in Wealthy Neighborhoods

Washington Park, Denver, Colo. / AP

Washington Park, Denver, Colo. / AP

Government workers went door-to-door in the wealthiest neighborhoods in Denver giving away trees as part of a $600,000 stimulus project.

Costing $150 each, government workers justified the trees as potentially saving energy costs by providing shade. The program suggested the government funds would jump-start the economy by creating jobs for those who planted the trees.

7) $384,949 Study of Duck Penises

 

AP

AP

A $384,949 grant was given to Yale University for a study entitled, “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior, and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia.”

A National Science Foundation spokesperson defended the study, saying, “Government funded grants for research have assisted in creating the barcode and Google.”

6) $1.2 Million Study of Erectile Dysfunction in Overweight Men

$1.2 million in stimulus funds went to study impotence in overweight men. The University of California-San Francisco used the funding to conduct 200 video interviews, at a cost of $6,000 each.

5) $100,000 Anti-Capitalist Puppet Shows

Performers with the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater / AP

Performers with the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater / AP

“In The Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre,” a Che Guevara-inspired puppet theater in Minnesota, received $100,000 in stimulus money, according to a report by Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.). The funds included $25,000 to help preserve one job, and $25,000 to produce “socially-conscious puppet shows.”

4) $389,357 for College Students to Keep a Diary of Their Marijuana and Malt Liquor Use

AP

AP

Coburn’s report also found that researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo were given $389,357 to pay young people to record their daily malt liquor drinking and marijuana use.

Buffalo-area residents were paid $45 each to record their daily smoking usage through an automated phone hotline.

3) $3.4 Million Turtle Tunnel

A $3.4 million underground turtle tunnel providing “eco-passage” in Florida also had its origins in the stimulus package. The funding was given to Dr. Matt Aresco, who had been on a “10-year mission to help the turtles cross the road.”

2) $8,408 Study to See if Mice Get Drunk

Mickey and Minnie Mouse getting drunk with Uncle Sam's money / AP

AP

Florida Atlantic University received $8,408 in stimulus funding to see if mice get drunk after consuming alcohol. The researchers surmised that since “humans who consume alcohol have trouble with ‘navigation, memory, and attention,’” maybe mice would too.

1) $535 Million on Solyndra

Solyndra headquarters in Fremont, Calif. / AP

Solyndra headquarters in Fremont, Calif. / AP

Just two years after receiving $535 million from the stimulus, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy. The company was the first to receive a federal loan guarantee from the stimulus. Solyndra’s biggest investor, George Kaiser, was a bundler for the Obama campaign.

At least four other companies received stimulus money only to later file for bankruptcy, including Olsen’s Mills Acquisition Co., which received $10 million to increase employment, and Evergreen Solar Inc., which received $5.3 million to install 11,000 photovoltaic panels.

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Re-Authorize contract so no more automatic dues taken from SEIU employees!

RE-AUTHORIZE MEANS NO UNION DUES TAKEN AUTOMATICALLY
RE-AUTHORIZE MEANS NO UNION DUES TAKEN AUTOMATICALLY BY SEIU

Re-authorize contract so  no more automatic union dues taken from SEIU employees!

Can SEIU members at San Andreas Regional Center  (SARC)  learn something from the auto workers who did not sign up to become USW union members?  I hope so!

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Volkswagen workers reject UAW in Tenn.; Union looks for Plan B to enter South

(Erik Schelzig/ AP ) – Workers assemble Volkswagen Passat sedans at the German automaker’s plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Workers at the plant voted 712 to 626 to reject unionization at the plant.

By Lydia B. DePillis, Published: February 15 E-mail the writer

Everything seemed to be going the United Auto Workers’ way: A company actively in support, laws that don’t require workers to pay dues even if they vote for a union, automatic membership in a German-style “works council” that would give employees real authority over day-to-day matters at the plant. A “yes” ballot was risk-free.But late on Friday night, 712 employees at a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga voted against joining the union — more than enough to overwhelm the 626 who voted in favor.

 

Will a new South emerge from the UAW showdown?

Will a new South emerge from the UAW showdown?

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COLUMN | There is irony in the efforts of business leaders to prevent 1,500 blue-collar workers from unionizing.

United Auto Workers lose Volkswagen election

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The loss will make it even harder for unions organize foreign automakers across the south.

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Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga reject unionization.

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Jos. A. Bank to buy Eddie Bauer in deal worth $825 million

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On its face, the vote was shocking to supporters.“My company is freely offering me voting rights,” said pro-union worker Chris Brown, in the days preceding the vote. “Why would I turn it down? They want my voice.”The news is a huge blow for the UAW, which has struggled for decades to organize foreign automakers drawn to the South in part because of its low union density — a phenomenon that has dragged down wages even at Detroit’s unionized Big Three. After years of discouraging losses, the UAW had staked its Southern strategy on winning this one and blamed threats and intimidation by politically motivated third parties for turning the tide against them.

“I think it was unprecedented that outside forces, whether it was the Koch brothers and the money they spent here, whether it was [Republican Sen. Bob] Corker, whether it was Grover Norquist, all these people who were going to come in and threaten the company and threaten workers, to me was outrageous,” said UAW President Bob King, at a news conference after the tally was announced.

In a high-profile public campaign, Republican politicians threatened to withhold further tax incentives if the plant organized, while D.C. conservative activist Grover Norquist plastered the town with anti-union billboards and churned out UAW-bashing op-eds. As the vote commenced, Corker even said he’d been “assured” that Volkswagen would make a planned new SUV in Chattanooga rather than Mexico if workers voted no, even though the company has said consistently that the vote had no bearing on its choice.

The real ground game, by contrast, came by way of a dedicated core of anti-union workers who handed out fliers, voiced their opposition through a Web site and social media, and held a big meeting Feb. 8 to make their case. “It just spread,” said Mike Jarvis, in a group gathered outside the news conference in the rain on Friday night, wearing blue T-shirts with a crossed-out UAW. “I told two people who told four people who told eight people, like a pyramid kind of thing.”

The winning argument? Jarvis said people on the fence were persuaded by a clause in aNeutrality Agreement negotiated between Volkswagen and the UAW before the election, establishing a principle of “maintaining and where possible enhancing the cost advantages and other competitive advantages” that Volkswagen enjoys over its competitors. In other words, keeping wages and benefits from getting too high relative to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler — which Jarvis calculated would take $3 per hour off his current pay.

The problem is, what Jarvis interpreted as wage suppression was exactly the kind of innovation that the union was counting on to deliver a win. Since the auto bailouts in 2009 and in a departure from its militant past, the UAW has shifted toward a more cooperative approach that it says is aimed at helping companies succeed. “With every company that we work with, we’re concerned about competitiveness,” King said, when asked why the clause was included. “We are showing that companies that succeed by this cooperation can have higher wages and benefits because of the joint success.”

___________________

That’s the pitch that’s supposed to make companies more amenable to the idea of allowing their workers to have representation. But what if the prospect of too much coziness with management spooks the workers themselves? Successful organizing campaigns need a scary opposition — and there was no way to make Volkswagen into such a figure. “Volkswagen’s a class act,” said UAW Secretary-Treasurer Dennis Williams.

Ironically, Volkswagen’s generous benefits might have made organizing more difficult, since most workers were content with what they had, and enough were persuaded that a union might just rock the boat. Take it from Steve, the father of a quality control manager at the plant who voted “no” — he withheld his last name to protect his son from controversy — who just doesn’t see why unions are necessary.

“Well, you know, I think at one time they were very useful. But now, I don’t know that you get that much benefit from them,” said Steve, while eating dinner with his wife, Candy, at a Waffle House on Wednesday. “When they first came in, it was a good thing, because workers were really getting taken advantage of. But it’s not so much the case anymore.”

Jarod Roll, a labor historian at the University of Mississippi, noted that “the South has historically had a low-wage economy where good-paying jobs have been hard to find and to keep. That historical experience has influence when people get good jobs because it makes them reluctant to do anything that might put those jobs at risk, like join a union.”

The narrow defeat will have repercussions. The UAW had already begun to apply a similar organizing model to a Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Ala., figuring that parent company Daimler might also be more willing to accept a works council. Now, there’s little competitive pressure to do so.

The biggest fallout of the loss, however, isn’t for the workers who already have jobs at the German-owned plants. Rather, it’s the ones who work at places such as the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn., which has gradually been replacing its full-time positions with temporary jobs that pay much less and grant no sense of stability. The UAW lost a vote there in 2001, and while it still has organizers on the ground in Smyrna, workers will look to Chattanooga and wonder why so many thought the union was a bad idea.

Of course, the UAW had other headwinds, besides political animosity and the lack of a bogeyman to campaign against. Detroit’s bankruptcy last fall cast a shadow over its efforts, as union opponents effectively tied imagery of the belly-up city to bloated union benefits. That legacy has left the autoworkers with an even more negative impression in the eyes of those who may never have met a union worker — or never thought they did.

“The public image of the autoworkers is very negative,” says Kristin Dzickek, a labor specialist at the Center for Automotive Research. “But if you think of the public image of UPS drivers, nurses, people you interact with in day-to-day jobs who may also be union members, they’re not seen as thugs. I don’t think anyone sees their UPS driver as a thug, even though some of them make more than autoworkers do. There’s not that same kind of attack on unionization in other sectors.”

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[Birds cooked by solar plant in CA] A 2 Billion $ bird killer!

Bird cooked by
Birds cooked by solar plant in CA

Birds cooked  by solar plant in CA.   A 2 billion $  bird killer!  What are we doing?

Birds like heat. Guess what! Bird die after largest solar plant opens in Ca. How? Cooked to death. Good heavens!

New solar plant  covers 5  square miles. More info:

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world’s largest “tower-based” solar plant, is scheduled to open this week in the Mojave Desert. According to Brightsource, one of the project’s investors, the plant covers 3,500 acres (five square miles) with “over 300,000 software-controlled mirrors [that] track the sun in three dimensions and reflect the sunlight to boilers that sit atop three 459 foot tall towers.” The Wall Street Journal puts the exact figure at 347,000 “garage door-size mirrors.”

Ivanpah cost $2.2 billion, but investors have few worries. The plant  was financed with a federal loan guarantee of $1.6 billion, and Californians are required under Renewable Portfolio Standards to purchase Ivanpah’s electricity for the next 30 years, at four times the cost of electricity generated with natural gas.

Birds seem to be attracted to the array, thinking that the shimmering mirrors are a body of water.

It turns out that when those 347,000 mirrors focus sunlight up to the 459-foot high towers, the surrounding air gets warmed up a bit — to a toasty 1,000 degrees F, hot enough to fry our feathered friends to a crisp.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/02/13/the-2-2-billion-bird-scorching-solar-project-at-californias-ivanpah-plant/

 

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Firenze Sage:   Oh and in sunny California you get to pay 4x the going rate for electricity.  This  is fine on the coast but most of  California  requires air conditioning for 4x the going rate.

 http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=four+more+obama+years

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[voter ID required] Don’t do as I say, do as I tell you

voter ID required by NAACP for protesters opposing new voter ID law. Huh?
voter ID required by NAACP for protesters opposing new voter ID law. Huh?

Voter ID required for protesters of the new voter ID law in North Carolina. Huh? You heard right.

The North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is holding a rally to protest that state’s new voter identification law.  

In a flier entitled “Important Dos and Don’ts for Marchers!!!,” the NAACP state at the top that all protesters conduct themselves “in accordance with the historic custom of the Civil Rights Movement.” They should also listen to their “marshals at all times” and follow the “Dos” and “Don’ts” underneath the opening paragraph.

In the middle of the NCCCP list, however, is :  “To go to the rally, you are asked to have “photo identification (driver’s license, passport or other valid photo id) with you and keep it on your person at all times.”

http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/08/naacp-requires-marchers-protesting-north-carolina-voter-id-law-to-show-photo-id/

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Koch brothers control NAACP printer?
Koch brothers control NAACP printer?

Firenze Sage, Esq:  Obviously the Koch brothers control the NAACP  printer.

Or is it the Marx brothers?

Marx brothers?
Marx brothers?

       jaj48@aol.com

 https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/238484

book: Four More Obama Years?
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Questions for Obama on SuperBowl Sunday

Questions for  Obama tomorrow  on SuperBowl Sunday when O’Reilly interviews the President:

Obama promises American they can keep their health care plans
Obama promises American they can keep their health care plans

Health care: Mr. President,will you keep your promise  that if  you like your health plan you can keep it,, by working   with Congress  to pass laws which  repeal : 1)  the individual and employer mandates; 2) repeal  the exchanges and 3)  repeal the central planning  of 1/6th of our economy (health care)  which  results in the  overpricing of health plan products?

War powers: Mr. President, as Commander-in-Chief you have power  and the responsibility to send planes and troops to protect America.  Where were you the night of Bengazi when Ambassador Stevens, 2 CIA operatives and a 4th American were murdered? Had you sent an armed  drone to keep the mob away and had you provided adequate protection for the Embassy  those four would be alive today some say.   Exactly where were you and who did you speak with during those hours and that evening?

Where was Obama the night Stevens was murdered at Bengazi?
Where was Obama the night Ambassador  Stevens was murdered at Bengazi?

 

Jobs: Mr. President, you’ve admitted that the Stimulus resulted in no shovel ready jobs. The Pipeline will result in 45,000 shovel ready and other jobs. Yes/No, are you going to support the Pipeline?  

Education:  Mr. President,  in the past  you  opposed vouchers which give low income and minority children choice as to which  school they will attend. Twice you denied  vouchers to 4000 Afro-American  children in Washingto D.C  where your children attend a private school.  Why not give low income, minority parents the same choice that you have to send their child to a school of their choice?

Obama opposes vouchers for D.C. black children
Obama opposes vouchers for D.C. black children

Poverty:  Mr. President, the way out of poverty is to stay in school, get married and have children in that order. You followed that path. Will you work to change laws to encourage staying in school, marriage and having children after marriage?

America is waiting for your reply, Mr. President.

Cameron S. Jackson, Ph.D.

drcameronjackson@gmail.com

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[male/ female salaries] Obama can do no wrong

Male/female salary differences in the White House? Oh, yes.

male/ female salary differences
male/ female salary differences

Female employees in the Obama White House make considerably less than their male colleagues, records show.

According to the 2011 annual report on White House staff, female employees earned a median annual salary of $60,000, which was about 18 percent less than the median salary for male employees ($71,000).

 Today on Fox News, contributor and liberal radio host Alan Colmes defended the White House policy of paying women less than men.

Colmes defended the President saying   that  President Obama does not set the salaries for the people who work for him.

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Firenze Sage, Esq:  The guy [Obama] who would reduce oceans cannot raise wages.

Another lackey who should be shunned.

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[Michelle Obama’s role models] Like husband like wife

Obama's wife's hero is Jane Fonda
Obama’s wife’s hero is Jane Fonda

Michelle Obama’s role models?

In her latest interview with People Magazine, First Lady Michelle Obama was asked to name female role models she would like to emulate when she gets older.

Her choices? Actresses Cicely Tyson and Jane Fonda, infamously known as Hanoi Jane for supporting the enemy during the Vietnam War.

“I just went to see Cicely Tyson on Broadway. She is in her 80s [just turned 80 in December] and did a two-hour play with stamina and passion. I told her ‘I want to be you when I grow up!'” And then she added:

Obama's wife's hero is Jane Fonda
Obama’s wife’s hero is Jane Fonda

“There’s Jane Fonda, a beautiful, engaged, politically savvy, sharp woman.“

 

As a reminder, in 1972 Fonda was photographed laughing with North Vietnam enemy soldiers while sitting on an anti-aircraft gun that was being used to shoot at U.S.aircraft.

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Firenze Sage, Esq.  I am glad you made it to 50 unlike the unlucky ones who Jane despised.

jaj48@aol.com

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[racial profiling:] Whose side is Holder on?

TWIN TOWERS

Whose side is Holder on?  Racial profiling is bad, bad says Justice:

The Justice Department will significantly expand its definition of racial profiling. Why?

To prohibit federal agents from considering religion, national origin, gender and sexual orientation in their investigations, a government official said Wednesday.

The move addresses a decade of criticism from civil rights groups that say federal authorities have in particular singled out Muslims in counter terrorism investigations and Latinos for immigration investigations.

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Firenze SAge, Esq.  Well,  is it Arabs coming across the Tijuana border and Mexicans flying into buildings,  or what?

jaj48@aol.com

 

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Ignorance costs [knowledge of ObamaCare]

What are real costs of ObamaCare? People do not know what a deductible is.
What are real costs of ObamaCare? People do not know what a deductible is.

Ignorance costs. Most people do not understand  the costs associated with ObamaCare:

For example:  Do you know what a “deductible” is?

A recent academic study published in the Journal of Health Economicsfound that just 14% of individuals who have health coverage could correctly answer all four of four basic questions about health insurance. For example, they did not know  what a “deductible” and “copay” are.

If comprehension figures are that low for the insured, analysts worry what that portends for the uninsured, especially for a program as complex as Obamacare.

Unawareness of terms like “deductible” could prove mind boggling for people. 

A recent analysis by Avalere Health of 19 state marketplace plans found that the average deductible for an Obamacare bronze plan—the lowest option available—is $4,300. That means big out-of-pocket costs for the newly insured.

Other studies have show similar results. A Carnegie Mellon University study finds that 86% of Americans ages 25 to 64 do not understand Obamacare.

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Firenze Sage, Esq:  And how many of the geniuses that put this monster together understood it?

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[Nancy Pelosi unhinged?] She still has not read it!

Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare
Nancy Pelosi on ObamaCare thnks it’s glorious. Is she unhinged?

Nancy Pelosi   said that Obamacare’s going to be a “glorious thing”:

“It’s worth the trouble. It’s going to be a glorious thing. It’s about life, a healthier life, liberty, the freedom to pursue our happiness. It honors the vows of our founders. A person can follow his or her passion and not be chained by a policy, so they could start a business, be self-employed, change jobs. It’s a very, very exciting thing. And it’s about wellness and prevention. It’s about the health of America, not just the health care for Americans. So we’re very proud of it, and our enthusiasm for it … strengthens our determination to make sure it works.”

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Firenze Sage, Esq.  It is almost impossible to read what this woman says and not think “unhinged”

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