Wednesday - April 23, 2014

mid-nite tea

3am again ... up for a bit, feel completely parched. Good time for a nice mug of PG Tips Rich. With a spoonful of sugar but no milk. Mmm, soothing.

We took all 7 tonight at Greed League. I think we only have 1 week left in this season. Right, so we played the almost-last-place team tonight, and fought them to the end. We can get out of last place, right here at the very very end of the season, but to do that we have to beat this team 6 games in a row. We’re halfway there now. Next week will be the clincher. I bowled Ok tonight, 207/147/200. Yeah, I hit a rough patch in Game 2, with 5 opens. Grrr. Some nights I have trouble getting the ball to go where I want, while getting enough hand on the ball to make it do anything (hook, rev, carry, etc).  After adjusting my feet, my hand, and my target I finally got back in the groove. Annoying. But we won that game too, so no biggy.

And who knows, maybe we’ll even have all our guys next week. Maybe. You can never tell with Bob, because his job sends him back and forth to Texas and South America all the time. Almost weekly. He’s missed 2/3 of the season. Again. And this will probably be the last time together for this team. Oh, we’re a good mix personality-wise. No troubles there. It’s just that, with 3 and 1/3 members, we don’t stand a chance in a 5 man team league. So we’re probably going to go our separate ways. And Greed League is so close to dying anyway, sputtering along with 8 teams and unwilling to change it’s old Big League rules to better suite a tiny membership. Besides, I did 3 leagues this year, and that’s at least 1 too many for me. I have no time for hardly anything else.

Back to bed soon. It’s very relaxing, sitting here in the silence and near dark, drawing warmth from the tea mug as it slowly cools. Gaah, I left the tea bag in too long. Ok, now it’s a bit on the acid side, but I’ll drink it anyway.

‘Tay, what’s new at 3:20am in the news??

Oh looky, the IRS is a dirty birdie again. Giving bonuses and paid time off to workers who mouthed off and/or didn’t pay their own taxes. Hey, just like their boss, right? Good old Turbo Tax Timmy Geitner?

IRS employees who had been disciplined for tax and conduct issues were nonetheless rewarded with monetary awards or time off, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.

The report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that while for the most part the reward program for IRS workers complied with federal regulations, employees who had themselves failed to pay their federal taxes and had discipline problems were also rewarded.

“While not prohibited, providing awards to employees who have been disciplined for failing to pay federal taxes appears to create a conflict with the IRS’s charge of ensuring the integrity of the system of tax administration,” Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said.

The watchdog found that in the period from October 1, 2010 to December 31, 2012 over 2,800 employees who had been disciplined for conduct problems, including issues with federal tax compliance, had received over $2.8 million in monetary awards and over 27,000 hours in time-off awards.

Golly. Hey, did you notice how the numbers there line up nearly perfectly? 2,800 workers, $2.8 million in bonuses. That means EVERYONE gets $1000 bonus, across the boards, no matter what. And these are the fuck-ups, don’t forget. And 2,800 workers, >27,000 hours bonus time-off ... just about 10 hours each. EVERYBODY gets a bonus day off with pay, no matter what.  It’s like they’re declaring a dividend. With your tax dollars. And now we need THOUSANDS more of these jokers, ARMED, to make you comply with Obamacare.

The watchdog found that the more than 1,100 employees who had issues with tax compliance received more than $1 million in monetary awards and more than 10,000 hours in time-off awards.

Yup, the numbers stay the same. Even if you work at the tax office and don’t pay your taxes, you STILL get the “guaranteed minimum” bonus of $1000 and 10 hours off with pay.

Meanwhile, the rest of America is asking, “What’s a bonus? Is that anything like a raise? I think I remember those, but I haven’t seen one in several years.”

The IRS had about 100,000 workers during the period under review.

In the 2011 budget year, more than 70,000 IRS workers got cash bonuses totaling $92 million, the report said. In the 2012 budget year, nearly 68,000 workers got cash bonuses totaling $86 million.

That’s $1278, and $1265 per “standout” worker, the “upper” 70% of their workforce. So the difference between Hero and Zero is about $266.

The IRS. So non-discriminatory that everybody gets a slice of happy pie, because pie are free!!

PS - WTF is ANY government agency doing, handing out bonuses of any kind? The friggin’ gall of these bastards knows no bounds.




Hey, gas prices shot up 10 to 15 cents a gallon last week alone! Looks like we’re getting our summer hit a couple months early. Gee, thanks for that Big Stinker Oil.

The average price for regular gasoline at U.S. pumps jumped 8.5 cents in the past two weeks to a 13-month high of $3.69 a gallon, according to the latest survey of prices. Frankly, that doesn’t sound too bad in Walla Walla where the prices are closer to $3.79 a gallon.

This increase (up 43 cents a gallon for the year) is being attributed to a rise in crude oil prices and a higher demand for motor fuel, according to Energy Information Administration data.

Plausible. However, these and other plausible (or semi-plausible) explanations are rolled out year after year just before school lets out and families hit the road for summer vacations. It’s suspicious.

No, it’s bullshit. A new bit of pipeline is open, and the oil is flowing down-country to the Gulf refineries. Where it’s turned into gasoline. And shipped off to other countries.

After reaching a 13-month average high of $3.65 a gallon for regular unleaded in Georgia, gas prices have finally stopped climbing.  At least for now. Gas prices stabilized during the weekend after continually rising over a 20-day period, the AAA said on Monday.

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.67 on Sunday, an increase of three cents from last week. The average in Georgia rose 7 cents to $3.65, AAA said. Prices in Georgia, Tennessee and Florida didn’t increase at all this past weekend, AAA said, and increases in gas prices last week were smaller than those occurring in previous weeks.

“During the past week, gas price increases slowed until they finally stopped over the weekend,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for AAA, in a press release. “It is too soon to know whether we have seen the peak price for the season, but this is a good sign that relief is on the way for motorists at the pump.”

It’s pretty common for gas prices to rise in the spring, AAA said, with peaks occurring during spring months for the past three years.

Really? Because I’ve been watching carefully for years now, and the real hit comes on the last Wednesday before the Labor Day Weekend. That’s when the boosted up summer prices come in. And stay in. To stick it to you during the part of the year when you might actually want to drive somewhere just for the fun of it. Like, vacation. So what I think I’m reading here, from the Georgia AAA, is more “lie down, shut up, take it and be happy” from our ruling class. Behave peons, and pay!

Bleh. Sod it all, I’m going back to bed.

PS - WTF?

Oh, Puh-Leeez

Obama sends troops to Poland to pressure Putin ... he sent 150 paratroopers. A hundred. And fifty. For joint exercises with Poland and three other eastern European nations. 4 countries. 150 troops. So that’s what, about 37 troops per country? A bus full each?

Oh yeah, that’ll leave a mark.

Meanwhile, Putin probably moved 40,000 troops and 10 tank brigades to the Belarus border, because they were just sitting around doing nothing. Just in case. And maybe gave them some of those new helmets and new body armor like the troops down in Crimea have, the kind that stops our poodle-shooter bullets. Nice. 

Posted by Drew458     on 04/23/2014 at 01:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging • News-Briefs •  
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