If you think you pay too much in taxes to support a bunch of crooked politicians (redundant) just look at the City of Bell, California.
Bell (population 37,000) is one of the poorer cities in the LA area, but their city counsel members make $100,000 a year. The City Manager makes $787,637, the Chief of Police makes $457,000 and the Assistant City Manager earns $376,288.
The L.A. Times made these salaries public and now the outcry by the working stiffs of the city has forced the city counsel –who approved these ridiculous salaries– to do damage control by attempting to oust the City Manager and others. —It sounds bad for him doesn’t it? What with all that bad publicity, and now the city counsel is trying to throw him to the wolves to cover their own asses?
Well, don’t fell sorry for him. If he’s removed from office he gets a retirement of nearly $600,000 a year for the rest of his life. -It looks like they’ve taken “friends in high places” to a whole new level.
Meanwhile back at the ranch: The LA County DA’s office is investigating the counsel’s salaries.
Unfortunately it appears that the outrageous salaries and retirement for the City Manager and his friends are legal because the counsel approved their contracts.
BP is supposed to be capturing 1000 barrels of oil a day. Their completely bogus estimate of the leakage are 5000 barrels a day and their internal memos seem to indicate 14000 barrels while various scientific estimates indicate between 35000 and 60000 barrels a day are being dumped into the ocean. (BP has averaged 900 barrels a day since this fiasco began.)
A history lesson:
Anaconda mining started mining copper near Yerington, then in 1977 ARCo -owned by British Petroleum- bought the mine and stopped mining in 1978 and quit all operations in 1982. Now there’s a toxic pit lake nearly a mile long with 500 feet of water.
When the EPA sent a man named Earle Dixon to look at the site, he immediately decided it was dangerous to everyone in the area and contacted his boss at the EPA and he also contacted NDEP. The result…. ARCO used it’s influence with the local politicians, NDEP and the EPA to interfere with any investigation. Then congressman Jim Gibbons even wrote a letter saying Dixon should be fired. –He was.
After Mr. Dixon filed a whistle blower’s lawsuit the site was added to the Superfund list, but hasn’t been put on the National Priority List and the EPA and NDEP have required ARC to begin remedial investigations and feasibility studies.
To understand the problem at Yerington read this. Especially the section on “Contaminated Media.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Tea Party candidate, and all around wing-nut, Sharron Angle called BP oil’s $20 billion victims’ compensation program “a slush fund.” Now she’s backtracking and the speed of light. And president Obama says he sure she meant “slush fund” in the nicest possible way.
My conclusions are that:
BP will survive and continue to make massive amounts of money, while leaving massive amounts of environmental damage and human misery in their wake.
The Tea Party wing nuts will continue to believe that this latest generation of Robber Barons should be allowed to continue to do whatever they please without oversight, because nothing is more important that profit.
Bleeding hearts will continue to believe we should be taxed to death to fund the failed social programs they have convinced themselves will save the world (a world that shows no sign of wanting to be saved).
It doesn’t matter how you look at it. As little people no matter who’s in charge at the moment, we’re screwed.
According to this post on MSNBC a photographer was detained outside a British Petroleum refinery while the authorities checked his ID and photos.
Rosenfield, a Texas-based freelance photographer, said he was followed by a BP employee after taking a picture on a public road near the refinery, and then cornered by two police cars at a gas station. The officials told Rosenfield they had the right to look at the pictures taken near the refinery and if he did not comply he would be “taken in,” the photographer said according to ProPublica.
Unfortunately this was done at the request of BP and all the reporter’s personal data, name, age, and social security number etc. was turned over to a BP security guard.
The reporter was working on a joint project between FRONTLINE (PBS) and ProPublica that was based in part on a huge blowout at that refinery.
This sounds the Coast Guard keeping reporters away from the parts of the spill most embarrassing to BP.
When you know, way down deep inside, that the only reason you got the votes is because “none-of-the-above” doesn’t count, there is nothing left to do but grit your teeth and try to smile.
Watch only after you’ve taken your blood pressure:
ShaddapPlease — June 16, 2010 — Area is now dangerous for American citizens due to shortage of border patrol. Arizona is asking for at least 3,000 national guard to help them secure their border along with Mexico. Obama only offer 1,200 which is not enough. Obama remain passive over this issue which is a threat to our national security – this is invasion.
Meanwhile back at the hacienda, Obama and company are suing over Arizona’s immigration law.
It’s bad enough that the president is not only quietly siding with people like Swanson’s that profit from the cheap labor provided by illegal aliens, but now he refuses to even pretend to keep our country safe and our borders secure. He’s much rather spend billions of US dollars supporting corrupt governments like Afghanistan and Iraq then spend an extra dime protecting our own citizens.
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