posted 09-10-2010 08:11 AM                  

testing pic size

[img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/50/d3/19/50d319afd6f327ce915d9eede6c8d6d5.jpg

posted 09-22-2010 07:39 AM                  

Heidi is the proprietor of a bar in Detroit . She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later. She keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans).

Word gets around about Heidi's "drink now, pay later" marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi's bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in Detroit .

By providing her customers' freedom from immediate payment demands, Heidi gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Heidi's gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Heidi's borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral.

At the bank's corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS. These securities are then bundled and traded on international security markets. Naive investors don't really understand that the securities being sold to them as AAA secured bonds are really the debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation's leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi's bar. He so informs Heidi.

Heidi then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts. Since, Heidi cannot fulfill her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and the eleven employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBONDS, ALKIBONDS and PUKEBONDS drop in price by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the banks liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Heidi's bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms' pension funds in the various BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers.

Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from their cronies in Government. The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Heidi's bar.

Now, do you understand?

And with no outstanding debts, Heidi opens up a Therapeutic Workmen's Comp and Rehabilitation Center with Government money, only now she tabs the drinks and pays herself a handsome salary from the funds, and the government picks up the cost of refurbishing the inventory.

Heidi now also furnishes wholesome meals of soup and sandwiches (government surples Peanut Butter and day old bread) and is compensated with food stamps which she turns in for cash like any other food retailer.

posted 09-24-2010 08:32 AM                  

Federal regulations cost U.S. businesses $1.75 trillion a year, 59% more than in 2005, according to a new report from the Office of Advocacy in the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“Had every U.S. household paid an equal share of the federal regulatory burden, each would have owed $15,586 in 2008,” said the report, The Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms. “The federal regulatory burden exceeds by 50% private spending on health care.”

The cost per employee is much higher on the smallest businesses — $10,585, the report, says (click on chart for a larger view): http://jan.ocregister.com/2010/09/24/federal-rules-cost-u-s-firms-1-75-trillion/45704/
Source: SBA Office of Advocacy

“The research shows that small businesses continue to bear the disproportionate share of the federal regulatory burden,” the report says.

The SBA report only calculates federal regulations. A study last year by the Governor’s Office of Small Business Advocate, said state regulations cost California businesses $493 billion a year, or $134,122 per business. It did not break out the costs per employee.

The federal study says says its calculations of costs are 13 to 17 times higher than the Office of Management and Budget because the latter agency uses only major rules adopted within the past 10 years. “Limiting the analysis to this time period omits some of the most costly federal regulations, such as (those) stemming from the Clean Air Act…” the SBA report says.

A similar federal study for the SBA Office of Advocacy in 2005 concluded that federal regulations cost businesses $1.1 trillion. The cost-per-employee was $7,647 for firms with fewer than 20 employees; $5,411 for businesses with 20 to 499 employees; and $5,282 for companies with 500+ employees.

Other findings for 2010:

* Environmental regulations are disproportionately heavy on small business, 364% higher than on large companies.
* Overall, small businesses pay 36% more per employee than the largest companies.
* Small manufacturers pay 110% more per worker then mid-sized companies and 125% more than the largest companies.

The 2010 report used economic regulations estimates from the World Bank, which uses a broader definition, than the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development used in the 2005 report. That difference helps explain why the cost of economic regulations more than doubled in the 5 years to $5,153 per employee for all firms.

posted 09-24-2010 12:46 PM                  

We have cut way back on watering our trees, and our water bill is still over 700.00 per month. If we watered the way we used to it would be over $1,500 per month!

Stuff like this is paving the way for more imported fruit & avocado's that have been sprayed with toxic pesticides not approved in our country...

This is really sad...

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Rate Hike Brings Farmers Down
Actor, activist and citrus rancher Peter Strauss spoke out Tuesday against Casitas Municipal Water District’s 19 percent rate hike

By Daryl Kelley
Confronted by angry farmers who predicted a loss of the bucolic nature of the Ojai Valley, directors of the Casitas Municipal Water District imposed Tuesday a nearly 19 percent hike in the cost to irrigate crops on top of a 53 percent increase last year.
Farmers said the move could be the beginning of the end of Ojai Valley agriculture, a potentially fatal blow to the orchards that have encircled the valley’s towns for a century.
They predicted that small farmers will simply let their trees die and that larger farmers will drill their own wells, depleting the underground water basin on which thousands of valley residents depend, sparking fierce water wars among neighbors and water companies.
“I’m the third or fourth largest (Casitas) water user ,” said farmer Jim Finch. “And I am definitely looking for methods to get off. I’ve drilled one well, and I’m looking at three more.”
As farmers let their trees die, or switch to ground water, farmers predicted that Casitas’ income will plummet, since crops use nearly half of all the water the district sells from the huge Lake Casitas reservoir. So, the water district’s efforts to boost its budget so it can repair an aging infrastructure, will backfire, they said.
Board members emphathized, but adopted the new rates anyway.
They said they had no choice but to raise farmers’ rates again because of a state law that forces water districts to treat residents and farmers equally by charging them the cost of delivering their water.
“I don’t want to see the trees go; nobody does,” said Director Bill Hicks. “We’ve got to do this right … or we’re gong to screw up this whole thing. We got backed into this (by the law).”
Board President Jim Word promised to continue to work with farmers to try to relieve their burden.
Citing a water rate study commissioned after last year’s contentious hearings, the directors said they had done everything they could to keep the agricultural rate low, using $1.8 million in property taxes to offset part of the cost of delivering water to farmers.
Without that offset, farmers could have faced rates of more than $500 per acre-foot of water, instead of $371 they’ll now have to pay. That’s up from $208 last year and $312 before the new increase this week.
So, even though farm water rates have nearly doubled, things could have been worse, directors said.
“It’s going to be a lot less than it could have been,” said Director Richard Handley, before the unanimous board vote imposed the new rate.
But the farmers weren’t buying it.
They said the formula the district’s consultant used to determine equitable water rates was so complex it was impossible to analyze precisely to see if the new rates were justified.
And the farmers said the directors were going overboard in trying to meet the letter of Proposition 218, a 1996 voter initiative that state courts now say require equitable treatment of all water users. They said other water districts still give farmers a steep discount on rates, including four nearby in Santa Barbara County.
“Prop. 218 is a lot grayer than it was first presented,” Finch said.
There was even talk of a lawsuit if Casitas persists with its agricultural rate increases.
Tony Thacher, whose family has farmed this valley for generations, said Casitas’ new rates are destructive on many levels, and self-defeating.
“I’m of the opinion that you’re pricing yourselves out of the ag. water business,” Thacher wrote in a detailed letter to the board. “It will be a slow and painful process of declining use affecting those who can least afford to farm and have no other water recourse.”
And, in the end, as wells replace water from Lake Casitas, the water district’s budget will not only be unbalanced and orchards destroyed, the ground beneath residents’ feet will actually begin to sink for lack of subterranean water to hold it up, he said.
“This is the most chilling consequence ... of less CMWD water being used by irrigated agriculture,” he wrote. “This is the real danger to the Ojai Valley and our livelihood — a contentious and perhaps litigious situation that pits neighbor against neighbor as the water table sinks beneath our feet.”
Grower and restaurant owner DeWayne Boccali recounted the story of Casitas officials coming to him 36 years ago, pleading that he use water from the struggling dam enterprise.
“They told me to plant trees and buy water, and I did,” he said. “Now, after all these years, my property is (virtually) condemned by these water rates.”
Boccali said he already pays $11,000 a month to water his Upper Ojai crops.
And grower Mary Bergen said her bill has soared from $7,000 to $8,000 a month to to $12,000 to water 100 acres of avocados — a figure so daunting she doesn’t know if she can continue to farm.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said. “I’m fortunately having a good year. ... (but) last year was awful and next year is going to be awful.”
Jim Churchill, a leader in the movement of valley farmers away from oranges to Pixie tangerines, said his bill to water 17 acres has soared 187 percent in two years to $18,600 a year, and is still going up.
“Every thousand dollars I give you guys ... is a thousand dollars I don’t have in my pocket,” he said. “I’m here to say somewhat hopelessly ... continue talking and reverse this. We think you’re doing yourselves a disservice, as well as us.”
Peter Strauss, an actor who farms 30 acres of oranges, commented on the precarious nature of farming even without a rate increase. In the last three years, he said, he’s had expenses of $108,000 and income of $104,000 from his crops.
“In farming today, that’s a success,” he said.
Strauss emphasized the benefits to everyone of living in a farming valley, and its fragile nature.
“Let’s go up to Dennison Grade and stop at the top at the Ojai Valley Outlook,” he said, his voice rising. “We all know this view. We can see all the homes, and all the farms. This is a truly unique, extraordinary, beautiful com-munity. Shangri La, as they say. We need to ensure it survives.”
But if those trees die, and the land is left vacant, the day will come when the politics of development will overcome this valley, despite local laws to preserve farmland and open space, he said.
What we would have then, he said “is not Shangri-La, but Sherman Oaks.”
The interdependence of the Ojai Valley’s water supply systems has become an increasing issue during the last year, as the valley’s several water agencies have sharply hiked rates to maintain and rebuild aging pipes, pumps, tanks and reservoirs.
And every move by Casitas, the valley’s largest water agency, affects every other one, since it provides water to its neighbors.
In fact, the valley’s groundwater management agency has begun an extensive study of precisely how the Ojai Valley basin works and what effect new wells would have on it during dry years, when there is not enough rain to replenish it. But that study is just beginning, and will take two years to complete, officials said.
Casitas provides water for about 65,000 people and nearly 5,700 acres of farmland in the Ojai Valley and Ventura areas. About 200 farmers use about 44 percent of the district’s water.
And because most Casitas customers are residents, not farmers, and they fared well under the new rates, the board received just 75 letters of protest, far short of the 1,554 majority needed to block the new rates.
Most Ojai Valley customers, predominantly Oak View residents, got a sharp reduction in rates.
Higher rates are required for farms, and for customers in Ventura, not only to fund millions of dollars in maintenance projects and fully fund an emergency reserve account, but because the district is under pressure to follow state guidelines for equitable distribution of water costs.
Homeowners already pay the full cost of delivering their water. Historically, farmers have enjoyed a subsidized rate because the federally constructed Casitas Dam project was built partly to promote Ojai Valley agriculture.
Even with the farmers’ rate increased to $371 per acre foot, they still pay less than the $455 rate most residential customers pay. (An acre-foot of water meets the needs of two typical households for a year.)
Casitas officials have said they might be able to legally justify the lower rate because agricultural users do not need the high quality water delivered to their orchards since a sophisticated treatment plant was built a decade ago to meet state drinking-water standards.
If all costs, including treatment, were included, farmers would pay $521 an acre foot, analysts have said.
The new water rates differ from customer to customer, depending on the size of a customer’s water meter and how much water is used.
For example, according to district rate models, a resident with a typically sized water meter (5/8 to 1 inch), using 34 units of water (748 gallons per unit) every two months, would now pay $81.40, including a service charge of about $38. That’s about $9, or 10 percent, less than the resident had paid bi-monthly.
For farmers, water rates go up 18.9 percent regardless of the size of the farm, but proposed reductions in fixed service charges mean a smaller percentage increase in the overall water bill.
For example, a farmer with 40 irrigated acres pays $30,802 a year for water service, $4,341 or 16.4 percent more than before, according to the water district models. That assumes the farmer has a two-inch meter and uses two acre feet of water per acre per year.
A farmer with 200 irrigated acres would now pay about $152,628 for water service, $21,030 or 16 percent more. That assumes the farmer has a 4-inch meter and uses 2 acre feet per acre.
And if the same 200-acre farm had a 6-inch meter, the annual tab increases to $157,649, $13,035 or 9 percent more than before, according to the district.
Farmers have said the water district underestimated actual water use in its rate models.

posted 09-24-2010 07:41 PM                  

Giant AZZ-WHIPPING of the Bucknuts by Clemson

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quote:

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Originally posted by WINDY CITY:
Wow big list was like 170 people times 2 people change their minds. And all those people decided not to come? I guess there is no drinking in the parking lot so those aren't coming.

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WCP
posted 06-01-2012 01:36 PM
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I can see every thread there but there is nothing of any importance.

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posted 06-10-2013 09:22 AM
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I have a facination with bull$hit. That's why I always read your post B Job.

Misandry is the hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against men or boys. Either "misandrous" or "misandristic"

posted 09-24-2010 09:22 PM                  

They said our Country needed to produce our own automobiles. It would be important in times of war. History has proven this theory... Some should look back to the dust bowl period to see what we may have in store for our future. No water, no food, everything here will turn to dust without water...

Everyday...

We are producing food for people that gets sold & eaten here... In our Country.. Not usually shipped elsewhere...

AMERICAN FARMERS ARE BEING PRICED OUT OF THE MARKET!

Some simple questions:

1. What is our World/Country gonna be like when USA farmers cant afford to farm?

2. Food then has to be imported from other countries, right? Sprayed with God only knows what. Importing pests that are not indigenous and we have no natural predator to help the farmers that can still afford to farm! You are what you eat, right?

3. What if most of our food ends up coming from South America? which already has a fantastic history of salmonella poisoning in our Country ... (Good thing China is a consumer nation... Look what happened with baby formula and dog food there... Babies Died from ingesting that formula. Dogs died from eating food made from Chinese products.)

4. What if we go to war with South America? Where is the majority of our food gonna come from? What is our "new" food source when farmers here cant afford to farm?

We are currently at a time of somewhat favorable water tables here in California. We produce millions and millions of tons of consumable food for our country. Now, farmers are left with no choice. We can't afford to water our trees & crops. Some of that is because of a 1996 socialist proposition that mandated that everyone... Everyone.. Residential or farm had to pay the same water rate! It couldn't be fair otherwise. I call BS...

What good is watering a lawn? Who is gonna eat that?

We are in trouble... Big trouble.

posted 09-26-2010 10:09 AM                  

That's why I promote rock/gravel,, yards/landscaping for residential homes and commercial business. Save the water!

My last employer spent about $200 per week to keep a 70' X 20' front lawn green and trimmed. For what? 50,000 cars per day could drive by the green grass front,,and not look at it or give-a-crap about it.

Same with motor oil... I say eliminate all oil for regular automotive engines, and only sell full synthetic oil. Fill all new cars with full syn also from the plant.
How much oil could we save every day?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

posted 06-01-2014 10:37 PM by 'Fish
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use 3 times the normal amount of flex agent in the paint and repaint.it will cut down on chips big time.my hood and fdrs and doors have flex in the paint and are holding up well after 60.000 miles.

posted 10-02-2010 09:58 AM                  

VooDoo #1 is in da house!I dot know that anyone from So Cal has ever won a raffle car!

This one is really special... Ralph Gilles made it his special edition. There are only like 20 made...

posted 10-02-2010 10:30 AM                  

She told me she was gonna win it...

posted 10-03-2010 08:52 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by ALLEY CAT:
[B][SIZE=5]

Bet she wet her pants with the announcement?
[/B]

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Last night at the main dinner, she had just about hit the wall. I think she passed out before 11... LOL

I'm so happy for her... AND Glenn... I think this is Steph's car though...

The first one was supposed to be her DD car, then Glenn started modding it... Then they bought an 08 (now her DD), which has a really incredible story about how they got it... The first car an 04 was modded to be a track car...

So now the VooDoo is in the house... It'll be interesting to see what she does... I think she will drive it.. I can't see her parking it in the garage and letting it sit... LOL

posted 10-04-2010 08:55 AM                  

Pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test.

These events are actual events from history..

1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by:
a.. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. A Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by :
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d . Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c.. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davey Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens , and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c Billy Graham
d.. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

No, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?

So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people..They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the President's security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40 alone lest they be guilty of profiling.

Foot note: Fort Hood Texas .Another Muslim 39 years old killed 13 people and wounded 30 some odd others...
Does this fit the profile ?

NOW OUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IS TELLING EVERYONE THAT THE YOUNG MUSLIM THAT ATTEMPTED TO BLOW UP A NORTHWEST/DELTA JET AS IT APPROACHED DETROIT ON CHRISTMAS DAY WAS (QUOTE) "AN ISOLATED INCIDENT".

"PLEASE DON'T P$% ON MY LEG AND TELL ME IT'S RAINING."

posted 10-04-2010 12:46 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by GenoTex:
and now back to our regularly scheduled viper discussion

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posted 10-06-2010 01:42 AM                  

Walking can add minutes to your life.

This enables you at 85 years old to spend an additional 5 months in a nursing home at $7000 per month.

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again.

I have to walk early in the morning,before my brain figures out what I'm doing..

I joined a health club last year, spent about 400 bucks.
Haven't lost a pound. Apparently you have to go there.

Every time I hear the dirty word 'exercise', I wash my mouth out with chocolate.

The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say,'Well, she looks good doesn't she.'

If you are going to try cross-country skiing, start with a small country.

I know I got a lot of exercise the last few years,...... just getting over the hill.

We all get heavier as we get older, because there's a lot more information in our heads.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

AND

Every time I start thinking too much about how I look,
I just find a Happy Hour and by the time I leave, I look just fine.

posted 10-07-2010 12:03 AM                  

At the end of the tax year, the IRS office sent an inspector to audit the books of a local hospital. While the IRS agent was checking the books he turned to the CFO of the hospital and said, “I notice you buy a lot of bandages. What do you do with the end of the roll when there’s too little left to be of any use?”

“Good question,” noted the CFO. “We save them up and send them back to the bandage company and every now and then they send us a free box of bandages.”

“Oh,” replied the auditor, somewhat disappointed that his unusual question had a practical answer. But on he went, in his obnoxious way.

“What about all these plaster purchases? What do you do with what’s left over after setting a cast on a patient?”

“Ah, yes,” replied the CFO, realizing that the inspector was trying to trap him with an unanswerable question. “We save it and send it back to the manufacturer, and every now and then they send us a free package of plaster.”

“I see,” replied the auditor, thinking hard about how he could fluster the know-it-all CFO. “Well,” he went on, “What do you do with all the leftover foreskins from the circumcisions you perform?”

posted 10-07-2010 12:13 AM                  

He stops, gets out and trudges to the rear of the car.

Looks up at the guy who hit him and says " I'm not Happy"

The man looks down and asks.

posted 10-10-2010 08:26 AM                  

Mavericks star forward Dirk Nowitzki sat out, saying he was concerned the outdoor conditions could hurt his jump shooting just before the regular season begins.