Wednesday - July 16, 2014

Pork Fight!!

An ethanol plant in Nebraska corn country is pumping out fuel made from sugar beets, and corn farmers are suing to stop it – a small-town dispute that offers an unusual take on the debate over the market-distorting impact of sugar and corn subsidies.

The dispute in Aurora, population about 4,400, brings into conflict two of the largest U.S. farm programs, one promoting sugar production and the other corn-based ethanol. Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings Inc, a privately held Illinois firm, is reaping profits producing ethanol with cheap sugar, thanks to a U.S. Agriculture Department subsidy of beet sugar.

Local corn farmers, who benefit from a government rule that forces oil companies to blend ethanol into gasoline, say in court documents that Aventine’s action violates an agreement to use their grain exclusively as a feedstock for the firm’s recently reopened plant in Aurora. Aventine denies any wrongdoing, saying it has abided by its contract.

The irony of the situation is not lost on George Hohwieler, president and chief executive of the Aurora Cooperative Elevator Co. that is at loggerheads with Aventine.

“Hamilton County, Nebraska, by any measure is one of the most productive corn-producing counties in the world,” he said. “The message being sent to the marketplace is that they’re making ethanol out of sugar.”

In fact, Aventine’s use of beet sugar is the first large-scale production of sugar alcohol in Nebraska since bootleggers used boxcars of sugar to make moonshine during Prohibition in the 1920s and 1930s.

Aventine chief executive Mark Beemer said the farmers’ coop was being short sighted in suing the company. “We’ve been very blunt. This is just a very short-term pathway to get the plant open and then convert back to corn ethanol,” he said.

The rare intersection of the two farm programs in Aurora illustrates the unintended impact federal farm subsidies can have on market activity.

One such initiative, the Feedstock Flexibility Program, last year enabled buyers like Aventine to purchase below-market sugar at government auctions, then use it as feedstocks in their ethanol plants, putting the sugar in competition with corn.

Under the federal sugar program, the government guarantees minimum prices for sugar loans, paying processors 24 cents per lb for beet sugar, or 19 cents for cane sugar, if sugar prices fall below those benchmarks. The USDA then must auction the sugar for non-food purposes.

Aventine was the biggest buyer at USDA auctions last fall, purchasing some 660 million pounds of beet sugar.

Beemer said the firm earned up to 50 cents a gallon on each of the 80,000 gallons it churned out daily while burning beet sugar. If the supplies last through August, as expected, that could amount to a nearly $4 million profit for Aventine, according to a Reuters calculation.

Beemer declined to comment on the profitability of the Aurora operation.

I think it’s time to not only end this stupid ethanol program but to end price supports for just about all farm products. If we’ve got enough shale oil and gas these days to make the stuff into motor oil, then we ought to have plenty enough to make gasoline. Not to mention that everyone’s cars run better and get better mileage on pure gasoline. Or the infrastructure impact that corrosive ethanol is having. Or that the idiotic ethanol subsidy has caused a MASSIVE spike in food prices across the planet.

Stupid is as stupid does, and this program has been known to be a total loser since the very beginning. DUMP IT.

But now it’s even worse. When I see one kind of greedy grower fighting another kind of greedy grower for a bigger slice of needless government pork, egged on by another government program that not only supports prices and stifles free market trading and another that subsidizes wasting food, I want to chew lead and spit bullets. Well I would, but the EPA has forced all the lead mines to close here. We’ve got centuries worth, but we can’t mine or process any of it any longer. Thanks EPA. And don’t get me going on the whole coal fiasco either.

NO ethanol subsidy. NO price support for sugar. NO Sugar Act to eliminate international competition. NO forced below market price sales of perfectly fine but temporarily excess sugar. NONE OF IT. Greedy bastiges.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/16/2014 at 10:10 AM   
Filed Under: • Economics • Government • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
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   Saturday - July 05, 2014

Mad George III never went this far!

But then, George never tried to ban beer!

Posted by Christopher     on 07/05/2014 at 05:22 PM   
Filed Under: • Government •  
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   Friday - June 27, 2014

What On Earth??

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will spend more than $1 million on hotel accommodations for an “Environmental Justice” conference this fall.

The agency posted its intention to contract with the Renaissance Arlington Local Capital View Hotel for its upcoming public meeting, for which it will need to book 195 rooms for 24 days.

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), Office of Enforcement and Compliance, Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) intends to award a fixed-price Purchase Order … to the Renaissance Arlington Local Capital View Hotel,” the solicitation said. “The purpose of this acquisition is to cover the cost of 195 sleeping room nights from Sept. 9 [to] Oct 2, 2014, at government rate for the 50th public meeting of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC), a federal advisory committee of the EPA.”

Rooms at the Renaissance Arlington run for roughly $349 a night. At 24 nights, the cost of 195 rooms will reach $1,633,320, or $8,376 per room.

The government per diem rate for lodging is $219 for September. If the EPA receives the per diem rate, the cost will come to $1,024,920 for the duration of their stay.

The NEJAC was established in 1993 to “obtain independent, consensus advice and recommendations from a broad spectrum of stakeholders involved in environmental justice.”

The council meets twice a year, bringing together members from community organizations, businesses, academic institutions, and state and local governments for “discussions about integrating environmental justice into EPA priorities and initiatives.”

The EPA defines “Environmental Justice” as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”

Really? Sounds like not just a total crock of horse manure, but an entire Olympic-size swimming pool full of it.  Sounds like a load of malarky you couldn’t pole vault over. Sounds to me like an excuse for various minority government managers to screw the taxpayer out of an extra 3 weeks of vacation.

And it’s been going on for more than 20 years. In all that time, have they created as much as one positive thing? No, not a document or an un-lost email. I mean a real, verifiable project that vastly improved the lives of a significant group of Americans identifiable by group characteristic, as their charter intends. For example, show me where some open coastal water usage bill was amended so that it improved the lives of Irish-Americans in the Southie district of Boston.

Hey EPA, I got your “environmental justice” right here: you owe us taxpayers ... 20 years X $1.6 million = $32 million plus the careers and pensions of every employee you ever allowed attend. Plus the Vig. Or else ...  hey, I know an environment, some brackish wetlands that would be justly improved by the addition of nearly 200 large deposits of protein and lipid dense fertilizer. Right here in New Jersey. And hey, you can even see the football stadium from there. Tell Jimmy H. we all said “hi”.

PS - you did notice that this will be teh 50th public meeting of a BS group that’s only been around 21 years at most, right? Which means that they’ve been sucking the sugar titty more than twice a year on average; they do 2 or 3 of these get togethers every year. That can add up to 10 weeks in some years, assuming all the conferences run the same 3 weeks plus like this one. 10 weeks of partying down, living it up in swanky hotels, with generous per diems, and a regular fat paycheck to boot. She-it, you’d need 4, maybe 5 weeks of regular vacation just to recover from that. Not to mention 10 or 15 sick days.

Somebody and his special bros got one hell of a motha effin’ scam going.

Posted by Drew458     on 06/27/2014 at 10:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Environment • Government • Corruption and Greed •  
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   Saturday - June 21, 2014

This is how I view the Obama “Administration”

Posted by Christopher     on 06/21/2014 at 08:53 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Obama, The One • Racism and race relations • REALLY WORTHLESS and PUTRID PEOPLE •  
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   Wednesday - June 04, 2014

Indentured servitude ordered by unelected gov’t ‘officials’.

Baker forced to make gay wedding cakes, undergo sensitivity training, after losing lawsuit

A family owned bakery has been ordered to make wedding cakes for gay couples and guarantee that its staff be given comprehensive training on Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws after the state’s Civil Rights Commission determined the Christian baker violated the law by refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.

Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, in Lakewood, Colorado was directed to change his store policies immediately and force his staff to attend the training sessions. For the next two years, Phillips will also be required to submit quarterly reports to the commission to confirm that he has not turned away customers based on their sexual orientation.

Sounds like a violation of the 13th Amendment:

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.[1]

Refusing to bake a cake for homosexuals based on your religious beliefs is NOT a crime:

“We consider this reporting to be aimed at rehabilitating Jack so that he has the right thoughts,” Martin said. “That’s offensive to everything America stands for.”

Phillips, who is celebrating his 40th year in business this week, told me he’s not going to create any new policies.

“My old ones are pretty adequate as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “I don’t plan on giving up my faith and changing because of that.”

The controversy started in 2012 when a gay couple asked Phillips to make their wedding cake. Phillips politely declined, saying he could not make a cake promoting a same-sex ceremony because of his faith. He offered to make them any other baked item they wanted.

Charlie Craig and David Mullins filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission alleging they were discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. For the record, same-sex marriage is against the law in Colorado.

The commission affirmed a civil court’s ruling that the bakery cannot discriminate against persons in a public place based on sexual orientation.

“You can have your beliefs, but you can’t hurt other people at the same time,” Commission Chairwoman Katina Banks told The Denver Channel.

ACLU attorney Amanda Goad, who heads up the organization’s LBGT group, heralded the ruling.

“Religious freedom is undoubtedly an important American value, but so is the right to be treated equally under the law free from discrimination,” she said in a statement.

No, my dear. Religious freedom is a CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.

Not only that, but you have the right to decide WHO you will make your artistic, or any skills, available to. Anything else is a violation of the 13th Amendments banning of involuntary servitude.

Not aware that a ‘commission’ is a court either. Never voted for anyone on a ‘commission’.

BTW, we have a RIGHT to discriminate!

Posted by Christopher     on 06/04/2014 at 11:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Gay Gay Gay! • Government • Oppression • Religion •  
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   Saturday - April 19, 2014

Pump it back up the line

Portland OR: Punk takes a pee in the reservoir. City throws out 38 MILLION gallons of water.

The city of Portland, Ore., has been forced to dump millions of gallons of drinking water. Why? Because someone urinated into a water reservoir.

Surprising still, this isn’t the first time this has happened.

The latest incident took place about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Cameras captured three teens near the Mount Tabor Reservoir No. 5. One of them approached the iron fence and apparently got close enough to relieve himself directly into the reservoir.

The three teens were apprehended, and the 50-million-gallon reservoir was taken offline for testing.

Thanks to the teens, the Portland Water Bureau will have to dump 38 million gallons of drinking water, said administrator David Shaff.

“Our customers have an expectation that their water is not deliberately contaminated,” he said.

All three teens received citations for trespassing; one was cited for public urination.

Shaff told the Oregonian newspaper that the teen knew exactly what he was doing.

“It’s stupid,” Shaff told the newspaper. “You can see the sign that says: ‘This is your drinking water. Don’t spit, throw, toss anything in it.’ He’s four feet away from that sign.”

This story is all over the place. here.  And here. And here. And here. And plenty of other places. Lots of pictures ...

... and lots of enraged opinions.

But ... how about some facts please?

0) [because Fact Zero isn’t really germaine to the story] 38 million gallons is a lake 1000 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 25 feet deep. It’s a nice big pond, or one helluva swimming pool. But it’s pretty tiny as actual lakes go.

1) The water in this holding pond is downstream from the treatment plant. Once it was pumped out of the local reservoir, it got chlorinated, fluoridated, filtered, and whatever other processing was necessary. Then the water was sent to this holding area, so that the extra chlorine or whatever could evaporate.

2) Portland is in violation of federal standards by having an exposed evaporation pond. Hey, the “pure” water in here is now exposed to airborne dust, dirt, bird crap, bugs, acid rain, leaves, otters, and whatever else can fall out of the sky or crawl under the fence. Bad bad, naughty Portland. Yes, it’s nearly their own fault this happened, what with putting a public jogging path around the pond. Guys, guys, in our post 9-11 world, there’s just no way you let the general public that close to everyone’s water. Close enough to have a pee is close enough to throw in some poison. Oh Hell no.

3) Yeah, the jerk took a whiz in the pond. Dilute a pint of urine with 50 million gallons of water ... which is 200 million quarts, which is 400 million pints. So the terrible pollution rate is 1 part per 400,000,001. Or 0.00000000249, or 0.0000000249%, or 2 1/2 parts per billion. Infinitesimal, but ewww, it’s pee-pee.

I don’t know where the evaporation pond is relative to the treatment facility. Probably not terribly far away; you’d want the same crew at the water plant overseeing everything. So, I’d suggest two things:
1) pump the water back into the treatment plant and clean it up again, or hook up a temporary filter on the output pipe until this batch of water has been sent out in the pipes. That should make everyone less squeamish.
2) Along with a ticket for public urination, these 3 owe the city or the water company the cost of fixing this.

But don’t ... ahem ... piss away a small lake full of nearly perfect water. Especially when you’ve got drought conditions in several places on the Left Coast, or near enough to it. Be green, but don’t be stupid.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/19/2014 at 08:57 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Stoopid-People •  
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   Friday - April 11, 2014

Obama’s Priorities?

Let’s not secure the borders and make America safe from hostile invaders. Let’s make the desert scrub safe for a tortoise while we persecute a family who has ranched here since the 1870s.

Posted by Christopher     on 04/11/2014 at 04:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Corruption and Greed • Illegal-Aliens and Immigration • Jack Booted Thugs • Obama, The One • Oppression • Outrageous • Scary Stuff • Self-Defense • Tyrants and Dictators •  
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   Wednesday - April 09, 2014

Another Ruby Ridge Coming Soon

A two-decades-old battle between a Nevada rancher and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has resulted in officials armed with machine guns surrounding the ranch and forcibly removing the owner’s cattle, according to the rancher’s family.

Cliven Bundy, the last rancher in Clark County, Nev., has been fighting a “one-man range war” since 1993, when he decided to take a stand against the agency, refusing to pay fees for the right to graze on a ranch run by his family for centuries.

After years of court battles, the BLM secured a federal court order to have Bundy’s “trespass cattle” forcibly removed with heavy artillery, the family said.

“The battle’s been going on for 20 years,” Bundy told theWashington Free Beacon. “What’s happened the last two weeks, the United States government, the bureaus are getting this army together and they’re going to get their job done and they’re going to prove two things. They’re going to prove they can do it, and they’re gonna prove that they have unlimited power, and that they control the policing power over this public land. That’s what they’re trying to prove.”

Bundy said the government has brought everything but tanks and rocket launchers.

The area that Bundy and his family have ranched on since the 19th century was declared a protected critical habitat for the desert tortoise. Bundy has also refused to pay massive “user fees” to graze his cattle on public lands.

“The story is a lot about the cattle, but the bigger story is about our loss of freedom,” Carol Bundy added. “They have come and taken over this whole corner of the county. They’ve taken over policing power, they’ve taken over our freedom, and they’re stealing cattle.”

“And our sheriff says he just doesn’t have authority, our governor says he doesn’t have authority, and we’re saying, why are we a state?”

“I’m a producer,” Cliven Bundy said. “I produce edible commodity from the desert forage, and all of these things are governed under state law. So, in other words, this type of government has eliminated all of our state law, eliminated our state sovereignty, and has took control over our public lands and even took control over our Clark County sheriff. They’ve taken the whole county over. The whole state, almost.”

“This is just about power of the government,” Carol Bundy said.

Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R.) voiced his concern about so-called “First Amendment Areas,” designated locations set up by the BLM where citizens can protest the removal.

“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a ‘First Amendment Area’ that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

Good golly, now that’s a real surprise. Amazing, ain’t it, how once you get outside of college campuses where the indoctrinated mindless juveniles are, actual adults aren’t at all willing to limit their opinion venting to “free speech zones”? Crivens ("Clivens" in this case maybe?). Good for them: the only free speech zone we have starts in Alaska, runs down to Hawaii, then east up to Maine and then down to Florida. We call it the First Amendment. They call it a troubling non-compliance with federal regulation.

Posted by Drew458     on 04/09/2014 at 10:31 AM   
Filed Under: • Environment • FREEDOM • Government • Jack Booted Thugs •  
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   Tuesday - April 01, 2014

Second Verse, Same As The First

Henry the Eighth I am I am, Henry the Eight I am ... oh wait, not that one. Sadly. No, this one: another INSANE anti-gun law makes a criminal out of a law abiding citizen. And now he’s a ... get this BS ... a registered gun offender. Say what? WTFF has this county become? Holy clams on the half-shell.

Mark Witaschek: Registered Gun Offender
Convicted of possessing a dud shotgun shell, one empty brass case, and a handful of loose bullets.
Turned in by his ex-wife, of course.

Where is that damn Reset Button? Time to drain the fever swamp that is Washington DC, and hose down all the insects there with DDT. And they’re ALL insects.

Witaschek surrenders to D.C. police ‘Gun Offenders Registry’; Businessman convicted of having unregistered muzzleloader bullets

Mark Witaschek never had a firearm in the District of Columbia, but he is now on the city’s Gun Offenders Registry.

This bizarre case has drawn national attention because an upstanding citizen was tried and convicted of possessing unregistered ammunition for muzzleloader bullets, which are simply pieces of lead and copper.
...
On Friday afternoon, I accompanied Mr. Witaschek and his wife, Bonnie, to Metropolitan Police Department headquarters to abide by the terms of his sentence, which meant registering within 48 hours.

Immediately inside the front doors and metal detectors is the Gun Offenders Registry Unit, which has suddenly appeared in the same office space as what was the Firearms Registry Unit. A white piece of paper taped over the existing painted sign indicated the office switch.

“They label it ‘gun-offender registry’ to sound like a sex-offender registry,” Mr. Witaschek noted.

There were five uniformed officers and one plainclothes cop manning the unit. We were the only civilians. Mr. Witaschek quietly gave his name and said why he was there.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” said Officer Flores

I have unregistered muzzleloader bullets. And round balls too. And thousands of unregistered pistol and rifle bullets, in your choice of cast lead, jacketed, solid copper, solid bronze, and a variety of shapes and styles. And I’m certain I could dig up a few dud rounds, although I make it a habit to break them up and dispose of them ASAP.

For Mr. Witaschek, the registration process took less than 30 minutes sinc e no other offenders were in the office at the same time.

Outside the police station, I asked Mr. Witaschek how he felt about submitting to this requirement of his sentence given by Judge Robert Morin.

“I was found guilty of something that is not even illegal and forced to register for something that is not illegal,” Mr. Witaschek said. He paused, then he just shook his head.

Mr. Witaschek is appealing his conviction both on technical grounds that muzzleloaders [muzzle loading] bullets are not classified as ammunition under the law and on the constitutional grounds that his Second Amendment rights have been infringed.

Sounds like jack booted thuggery to me. Sounds like it’s high time to Take Back America from our very own cops. Sounds like cause for revolution.

Follow the link above to learn more about the new, secret list THAT YOU CAN’T SEE that the DC cops are keeping. Oh, they’ll happily share it with any other government employee. But not you, citizen scum. Bad dog! Back in line! Heads down! Praise Obama, mmm mmm mmm! Work harder!!

For more of Witaschek’s case, go here, and read about the INSANE over the top antics of a completely out of control, over-militarized police department. Every last one of these fuckers should be fired and charged. Every. Last. One. Because this is the real story here ... the you-can’t-do-shit-about-it ham-handed gestapo tactics of modern American police, operating with impunity far outside the law and any constitutional restraint. They are your masters, slave, so you’d better behave.

Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns. Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The trial starts on Nov. 4.

The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek’s Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for “firearms and ammunition … gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts.”

SEE ALSO: MILLER: Justice delayed is justice denied - Appeal for decision on D.C.’s gun carry-rights ban

Mr. Witaschek’s 14-year-old daughter let inside some 30 armed officers in full tactical gear.

D.C. law requires residents to register every firearm with the police, and only registered gun owners can possess ammunition, which includes spent shells and casings. The maximum penalty for violating these laws is a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.

Police based their search on a charge made by Mr. Witaschek’s estranged wife, who had earlier convinced a court clerk to issue a temporary restraining order against her husband for threatening her with a gun, although a judge later found the charge to be without merit.

What the fuck. Who does she think she is, Jerry Ryan?

h/t to Doc Jeff

Posted by Drew458     on 04/01/2014 at 03:19 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Guns and Gun Control • Jack Booted Thugs • Justice - LACK OF •  
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wort wort wort??

Beer brewers are objecting to a proposed federal rule that would make it harder for breweries to sell leftover grains as animal feed instead of throwing them away.

The Food and Drug Administration rule change would mean brewers would have to meet the same standards as livestock and pet-food manufacturers, imposing new sanitary handling procedures, record keeping and other food safety processes on brewers.

Beer makers complain that the new rules, if adopted, would force them to dump millions of tons of “spent grains,” which are left over after barley, wheat and other grains are steeped in hot water.

Bear Republic brewmaster Rich Norgrove says the rules would be costly and force brewers to dump the grains, instead of the more sustainable practice of feeding them to livestock.

The Northern California brewery sells its spent grain to local ranches, which use it as an affordable food source for about 300 head of cattle, according to The Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

“Now the government wants to get involved,” Cheryl LaFranchi, a Knight’s Valley rancher, said. “What are they going to do with it? Put it in a landfill?”

The FDA says the rules stem from a new, broad modernization of the food safety system.

“ a new, broad modernization of the food safety system”??? Sounds like doublespeak for “a vast expansion of the powers of an unchecked, unelected, out of control bureaucracy”.

Feeding the leftover mash to the animals is as old as time. Nearly. I’m pretty sure the ancient Egyptians just drank the stuff whole, or cooked up the dregs into some kind of flatbread. Come on, that was so long ago they hadn’t even invented yeast yet. For bread anyway. Whatever. Once the wort comes out, the leftover mash is one of the “slops” used to slop the hogs ... it’s sterile, low sugar, cooked carbohydrates. Grains and maltings. Heck, you can make the stuff into bread yourself. Or waffles. Or cookies.

And honestly, I’d be pretty amazed if the beer brewers, who by their very nature are seriously into sanitary processes, just poured the dregs out onto the dung heap until the cattlemen came by. Get real.

Chris Thorne of the Beer Institute said he believes once the FDA has all of the information, it will see the benefits of the current system of recycling the old grain.

“This regulation is onerous and expensive, but really it’s just unnecessary. There has never been a single reported negative incidence with spent grain,” Thorne said in a statement.

The Colorado-based Brewers Association issued a statement last week calling proposal an “unwarranted burden for all brewers.”

Golly gee. Imagine that. A branch of the Obama regime going out of its way to make unnecessary regulations that would negatively impact smaller businesses. Who would have ever thought such a thing could happen?

Posted by Drew458     on 04/01/2014 at 01:37 PM   
Filed Under: • Government • Obama, The One •  
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   Wednesday - February 26, 2014

A Good Day to Die?

Gonna get some of your jack-booted thugs killed doing this.

Posted by Christopher     on 02/26/2014 at 02:18 PM   
Filed Under: • Commies • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Government • Guns and Gun Control • Jack Booted Thugs • Stoopid-People • Tyrants and Dictators •  
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   Friday - February 21, 2014

Do They Have Budget Left For Anything Else?

There. I always wanted to do a post wherein I covered the news story and nearly all of my reactions to it just in the headlines.

Now you have no need to read to thing, but here it is anyway.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is contracted to purchase 704,390,250 rounds of ammunition over the next four years, which is equal to a total of about 2,500 rounds per DHS agent per year, according to a January 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled Ammunition Purchases Have Declined Since 2009.

“If DHS were to purchase all 704 million rounds over the next four years, and if they were used by 70,000 DHS agents and officers, it would be roughly 2,500 rounds per agent per year,” David Maurer, author of the GAO report, told CNSNews.com.

“That would be higher than what we saw in past years at DHS and higher than the average annual number of rounds per agent or officer at the Department of Justice (DOJ),” he said.

“The 704,390,250 number of rounds is like a ceiling or credit limit which DHS wouldn’t have to fully execute,” said Maurer.  “It’s there to use over the next four years until fiscal year 2018, if DHS needed to purchase those rounds.”

Hang on, that’s only a quarter of a box of ammo per week per agent. Even if it’s all for practice, a) 12 rounds a week isn’t anywhere near enough to stay proficient, b) where are all these shooting ranges, they must be running them 24-7!!

Posted by Drew458     on 02/21/2014 at 12:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Government • Guns and Gun Control •  
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   Wednesday - February 12, 2014

The Chocolate Crook

A jury convicted former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Wednesday on 20 of 21 federal corruption counts, including bribery, marking a stunning fall for the feisty official who gained a national profile following Hurricane Katrina.

The 57-year-old Democrat, who led his city through the aftermath of the 2005 storm, was found guilty of charges that he accepted bribes, free trips and other gratuities from contractors in exchange for helping them secure millions of dollars in city work while he was in office.

He will remain free on bond while he awaits sentencing. Each of the charges carries a sentence from three to 20 years, but how long he would serve was unclear and will depend on a pre-sentence investigation and various sentencing guidelines. No sentencing date was set.

Nagin, who left office in 2010 after eight years, was indicted in January 2013 on charges he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and truckloads of free granite for his family business in exchange for promoting the interests of local businessman Frank Fradella.

He also was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in in payoffs from another businessman, Rodney Williams, for his help in securing city contracts.

Nagin is best remembered for his impassioned pleas for help after levees broke during Hurricane Katrina, flooding much of New Orleans and plunging the city into chaos.
...
The charges against Nagin included one overarching conspiracy count along with six counts of bribery, nine counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of filing false tax returns. He was acquitted of one of the bribery counts.
...
...the corruption spanned the time before and after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005.

The charges resulted from a City Hall corruption investigation that had resulted in several convictions or guilty pleas by former Nagin associates by the time trial started on Jan. 27.

Fradella and Williams, both awaiting sentencing for their roles in separate bribery schemes alleged in the case, each testified that they bribed Nagin.

Nagin’s former technology chief, Greg Meffert, who also is awaiting sentencing after a plea deal, told jurors he helped another businessman, Mark St. Pierre, bribe Nagin with lavish vacation trips. St. Pierre did not testify. He was convicted in the case in 2011.

Sorry Ray-Ray ... nobody left to rescue you this time. Not even Obama; if he threw you under one of your own buses, you’d drown.

Posted by Drew458     on 02/12/2014 at 07:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Government • Corruption and Greed •  
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Hostile

Posted by Christopher     on 02/12/2014 at 01:31 PM   
Filed Under: • Government • work and the workplace •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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