– Potential routes at risk for reduction or elimination if Metro doesn’t get the funding it needs.
– State employees are being demonized in Oregon too.
– How to Get a Black Woman Fired
– I worry that my tweets about strawberries and soup may have driven Nick off the Twitter.
– The New York Times has the best obits, but this is clearly a huge fuck up.
I suppose some credit is due Metro for some efficiencies and cost reductions it has implemented since 2009 or so.
Reduced fleet replacement reserves: Consistent with a 2009 performance audit, Metro pulled $100 million from its fleet replacement fund to support bus service during the following four years.
Why is it logical that Metro had $100M socked away as replacement funds for a fleet of only 1,400 buses? Presumably there’s still money in that replacement fund so I suspect that Metro may have had as much as $125M or more in that fund.
How many buses, really, did they think they were going to have to replace?
What if we could get ALL county agencies to review their fund balances for replacements, etc. How much more money might we find?
Is it really the Oregon state employees being demonized? Or is it primarily those among them who receive the highest pension compensation?
Union types, for instance, who don’t like that Democrat representatives in their legislature are at least beginning to address the fact that there’s not enough money to make good on all the pension promises, and that some cuts are needed here and there.
In going even this far, Sen. Richard Devlin, D-Tualatin, and Rep. Peter Buckley, D-Ashland, have angered public employee unions, which represent a core Democratic constituency. The Oregon Education Association is urging members to show up Wednesday “and share how this proposal is unconstitutional and unfair.”
I suppose that in the same way those poor Oregon union members are being demonized for being asked to take less and give back more, those of us who are higher earners in the rest of the country are being demonized when our taxes are selectively increased.
I know a lady who works in a retail shop. The owners once had four shops, but, due to poor business conditions, they had to close two of those shops.
Things aren’t doing so well, and the owners have taken pay cuts and had to cut employee pay, too, along with hours worked. It’s tough.
Maybe government workers should think about what some private sector employees are experiencing and thank their lucky stars that they have jobs. They should also think about where the money comes from that pays for their pay and benefits, that is taxes, which come from the private sector, largely.
Dueling headlines:
Conn. reaches deal on tough gun laws
http://www.usatoday.com/story/.....l/2044167/
Mandatory gun ownership law passed in Ga. town
http://www.clarionledger.com/v.....ed-Ga-town
Carl, did you do you homework and see if those trolls are leftists? Seems to Puddy from most of the comments… well y’all decide. Don’t worry Puddy won’t wait for an answer… It will be ad hominem attacks.
If the CT law addresses mental health checks and that info is in the background check it’s a step in the right direction! That would stop Lib da schmucko from getting a weapon in CT cuz he’s a real head case!
Is it easier to fire a black woman than it is to discipline a white man for making racist statements in print
Bellevue Community College (BCC) has dropped its proposed punishment of Professor Peter Ratener, who composed a math exam problem that featured a woman named Condoleezza dropping a watermelon off the roof of a federal building. Ratener wrote the problem in 2004, but came under intense scrutiny after the exam question was made public in March, 2006. For seven months, FIRE opposed BCC’s attempt to suspend Ratener for a week without pay before BCC finally announced that it would not suspend Ratener.
http://thefire.org/case/721.html
about a black woman?
Thanks @7, Puddy forgot that one. Yes Condoleezza and watermelon typical DUMMOCRAPT associations! FIRE supported Ward Churchill… Nuff Said for Puddy!
@3 Yeah, public employees should give up their Hyundais and Kias for bicycles so bankers can keep their bonuses and corporations don’t have to pay taxes!
@ 9
…public employees should give up their Hyundais and Kias for bicycles so bankers can keep their bonuses and corporations don’t have to pay taxes!
If you still had any comprehension skills or had bothered to read before spewing you would understand that what is being attempted is to limit pension COLA increases to the higher-compensated pensioners so the whole pension fund doesn’t run out of money. It’s not about taxes.
I know it’s early and your head is still nestled snugly surrounded by your rectal mucosa.
For the DUMB Wabbit, that’s his normal blogging position! It’s very accommodating to his leftist position on every issue!
Black woman, fired.
http://www.democracynow.org/20.....nney_loses
And there’s a profane four-letter explanation for how it happened, too.
She was defeated in the 2002 Democratic primary by an opponent who drew financial backing from supporters of Israel and opponents of McKinney’s radical statements. The night before the primary, her father, a Georgia state legislator, declared on Atlanta television that “Jews have bought everybody. Jews. J-E-W-S.”
http://www.splcenter.org/get-i.....g-the-line
If only Zucotti Park were still open, this man’s life would have not been wasted:
Sacramento police spokeswoman Michele Gigante said Fugate apparently died accidentally while trying to vandalize the building’s exterior.
Battalion Chief Craig Wiedenhoeft, of the Sacramento Fire Department, said Fugate accidentally asphyxiated himself.
Wiedenhoeft said the rope that looped around his chest and legs had constricted him. “He got pulled into a fetal position when the rope cinched up on him,” he said.
Read more here: http://blogs.sacbee.com/crime/.....rylink=cpy
You hear that Puffy – stay the fuck out of the middle
Race to the bottom, anyone?
The Masters of the Universe have roayally fucked over the private sector workers, and that becomes a justification for going after the public sector.
Stupid or evil, we run into that question once again.
HOW many buses does Metro need to replace? At least all the older high floor buses bought in the mid-1990′ s. They are in the middle of doing that, but the parent company of the manufacturer pulled out of the US market. Metro was trying to get a good deal, and in the standard 40ft or smaller category, their was several companies to bid, and Orion looked healthy, with an ongoing contract with the NYMTA. New Flyer turned out to be more reliable, Metro has bought all their low floor articulated buses from them, but in that category, METRO has unique specs to meet, besides hybrid drive, there is also the HUSH mode, which disables all non-essential equipment on the bus and limits the engine to idle. It is used for tunnel running. The first generation of this type of bus entered service in 2004-2005, and buses usually last 12-15 years, and Metro has stretched a few more out of electric buses.
I know where I’d rather live.
When are you right wingers going to start living your propaganda and move the the libertarian paradise of rural Georgia, or Alabama, or Somalia?
Come to think of it, isn’t this an abomination in the face of ‘get government off my back’ principles?
I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning.
@ 16
When are you right wingers going to start living your propaganda and move the the libertarian paradise of rural Georgia, or Alabama, or Somalia?
Er, we’re staying put. Those concealed carry applications? Them’s us.
You mean DUMMOCRAPTS are just now realizing this?
HAHAHAHAHA! Y’all supported Obummer now reap the whirlwind Obummer is creating!
This comment is P R I C E L E S S – “So, you’re just figuring this out? How many variations of stupid are there?” In the case of DUMMOCRAPTS there are an infinite number of variations of stupid!
You mean all those leftist voting companies who have $$$Billions parked overseas Lib da schmucko using their DC lobbyists to “roayally fucked over the private sector workers”? (spelling errors left in becuz schmucko went apoplectic the last time)
@ 17
Good point, actually.
I knew your nastiness was all about being endowed with a little dick. Thanks for confirming that.
The 7EX, I might go without, it skips a few stops, but still goes around Beacon Hill, while LINK goes through it. Still, I have used this route to get to LINK, as it connects at Mt. Baker Station. The 7 has several stops between Genesee Street and Mt. Baker Station, and is a slower route, but does not consume much diesel.
Hey schmucko,
It seems the safest place to live is North Dakota. White people with guns and you are safe. You can move to Chicago (2012 murder capital of the US) and live with like minded DUMMOCRAPTS! Minorities with guns should give Lib da schmucko a great feeling.
@20
I didn’t complain to you about changing my typing errors, I complained about you changing the gender I used for ‘god’, thus pointing out both your limited notion of the almighty, as well as your misogyny.
And your ‘point’ (I use the term, um, liberally, with you) about political donations in no way negates the fact that the rich are very limited in number but ever growing in terms of wealth and power, at the expense of everyone else – and that it is in their interests that ordinary people are being further and further squeezed and impoverished.
You and cheapshotBob are incessant in your squawking about unions and workers fighting back, about how the people who work harder and harder for less and less need to get by with still less.
Again we confront the question, “Stupid or lying?” I’d say some of both, but mostly the latter.
@ 22
Since you brought up @ 17 hypocrisy, I must point out yours for not calling RR on his repeated ‘Liberals must arm.’ encouragement while criticizing the fact that people who are gun proponents, and who see their rights threatened, are moving to take advantage of what they still have, much in the same way that gas lines form when there’s a supply disruption, Home Depot gets cleared out in advance of an approaching hurricane, or a bank known to be in big trouble might face a run.
It’s not an effort to substitute for less-than-desired endowment. It’s a predictable response to a threat. People are getting it while they still can.
I’m not one of them but I also cannot blame them.
Yours has been identified and categorized!
@25. There is two fundamental questions there.
A) Do you believe that wealth and power concentrated into the hands of a few is a destructive thing for the stability of American society, that it is better for wealth and power to be spread out among a wide and diverse section of the American population?
B) Do you think we should do anything about that, and using what tools?
—–
A) Yes, I want to go back where a big part of the population had some wealth and some power, but that means that it must be clawed back from the tiny minority that has it now. Which I feel is a very old school conservative idea.
B) Unions are a means to do that. So are Tariffs and Steeply Progressive taxation.
Do we have the right to tell millionaires and billionaires that they are rich “enough” to live quite well to the end of their days, and for the good of the American Society in general, they must sacrifice and pay taxes above and beyond, say…5 million in wealth at a steep rate.
Is it right to ask the very rich to sacrifice?
Ummm schmucko you seem to forget the rich stories on union money thuggery…
Here…
Here… SEIU Local 444 Wow…
Here…
Chicago.. DUMMOCRAPT led…
Here…
Sucks when facts don’t corroborate your positions schmucko! There are way more to deliver but five are a great start!
@ 29
Is it right to ask the very rich to sacrifice?
You truncated that question, NTfF.
Try this:
Is it right to ask the very rich to sacrifice more than they already are doing?
Rather than being dismissive of the fact that the very wealthy are already paying far, far more into the system than the average taxpayer, you need to better your arguments as to why that still isn’t good enough.
When all else fails return to class warfare! Even Bill Maher is questioning the rich tax scheme by DUMMOCRAPTS. Already posted the link twice. Y’all can ask the unemployed lunatic Pluto boy moron to review them again from the crazed databaze!
Illinois is continuing to invest in passenger rail upgrades, as well as Michigan. Track work season is starting. Meanwhile, Illinois is putting the federal money Governor Walker rejected to good use, not sure if the rolling stock they are buying will be used on the Chicago-Milwaukee run, although it is possible, but Illinois also funds the Chicago-Quincy(Illinois Zephyr, Carl Sandburg), Chicago-Carbondale(Illini, Saluki), Chicago-St.Louis(Lincoln Service), and is also starting 2 new services to the Iowa border, Chicago-Dubuque, and Chicago-Quad Cities.
http://www.railwayage.com/inde.....l?channel=
Progress:
Investigators say Atlanta’s school district orchestrated a culture of cheating to benefit those at the top.
…
At one middle school, 86 percent of eighth-graders scored proficient in math, compared to 24 percent the year before. Prosecutors say that progress was a criminal mirage.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50.....g-scandal/
I wonder, Lib Sci: Is Atlanta any better than rural Georgia @ 16?
@29 and 31.
Here are some I found on a quick skimm of the web:
The rich should pay more taxes, because the rich get more from the government.
Consider defense, for example, which makes up 20% of the budget. Defending the country benefits everyone; but it benefits the rich more, because they have more to defend. It’s the same principle as insurance: if you have a bigger house or a fancier car, you pay more to insure it.
Investments in the nation’s infrastructure– transportation, education, research & development, energy, police subsidies, the courts, etc.– again are more useful the more you have. The interstates and airports benefit interstate commerce and people who can travel, not ghetto dwellers. Energy is used disproportionately by the rich and by industry.
As for public education, the better public schools are the ones attended by the moderately well off. The very well off ship their offspring off to private schools; but it is their companies that benefit from a well-educated public. (If you don’t think that’s a benefit, go start up an engineering firm, or even a factory, in El Salvador. Or Watts.)
The FDIC and the S&L bailout obviously most benefit investors and large depositors. A neat example: a smooth operator bought a failing S&L for $350 million, then received $2 billion from the government to help resurrect it.
I liked this:
Exercises for the Republican reader:
Write a homily, suitable for use in Sunday school, explaining why Jesus should have condemned the sheep who demeaned the poor by feeding and clothing them, and blessed the rich man for living in splendor while Lazarus suffered.
I would love to read Puddy and Serial Conn’s versions of that.
“The top tier can’t balance the budget alone, but they should help pay their fair share as a matter of patriotism. We can’t continue to have a democratic system if we become a Banana Republic. History shows that when the top tier paid a higher percentage of taxes, from 1945-1970, the middle class was better off and the US economy thrived. We need to return to the tax rates of the post-WW2 boom years.”
Critical praise from the GAO for California’s High Speed Rail project, which will be starting construction soon. I was disappointed that it will not be entirely new right of way, but the blended plan now adopted, has true high speed in the Central Valley, and uses the Metrolink Antelope Valley line between Palmdale and LA Union Passenger Terminal on the southern end,and the upgraded Caltrain line between San Jose and San Francisco, and another stretch of new right of way where it is needed, the line’s biggest geographic barrier, the Tehachapi Mountains. It will be a shortcut over
using conventional trains on the existing crossing(which due to congestion, no passenger train regularly use it.).
http://www.railwayage.com/inde.....chsra.html
@ 35
Those are arguments in favor of proportionately higher taxation – a flat tax, in other words – although not progressively higher taxation.
The FDIC/S&L example was off-point. That’s a joint venture which in part will save the government from losing even more money on that failed bank. Were you to provide examples we likely would see that the ‘smooth operator’ was probably also shouldering some risk in addition to the $350M.
@ 36
???
I’m agnostic.
Regarding sheep, I have this great recipe for lamb roast with whole garlic cloves, rosemary, and a Dijon mustard and peppercorn crust. Add a huge and chewy Zinfandel and you’ll be a happy man for days.
“Removed approximately 120,000 annual hours of operator break time”
Considering that Metro (and Sound Transit) have been moving more and more to hiring semi-retirees to work “part-time” peak-hour shifts, this must have forced quite a few operators to wear Texas catheters.
Heh.. Walker in WI was elected in a panic over jobs and deficits
Now he’s proposing deficits and debt!
http://host.madison.com/ct/new.....963f4.html
WTF???? Heh.. It’s just politicians counting on the voters’ lousy memory. What a freaking joke!
WI voters for their own good had better remember. The Walkers of the world will just sell the public good to the highest bidders e.g. the Koch bros and their ilk.
@1 There may be some “wiggle room” in terms of replacement, at least in the short term. In fact, this has been forced upon Metro and ST due to the planned replacement of the aging Gillig Phantoms, which was supposed to happen last year, until Daimler Benz decided to close the Orion plant in Canada. Up to that point, the Gilligs were evidently being allowed to fall apart–the interiors were getting pretty shabby, some were belching blue smoke and many had transmissions and bearings making all sorts of alarming noises. Since it became apparent they’d have to last a while longer, Metro went ahead with the necessary mechanical repairs and at least cleaned up the insides. So, here’s proof that aging equipment can be fixed up and made to last longer, but in the long run the older buses’ comparative thirst for fuel (compared to hybrids) and the longer stop times to load and unload handicapped riders (because of the high floors) will probably cost more.
@41 Care to share that with us, Bob? Sounds yummy. The wife and I acquired quite a fondness for lamb from visiting our daughter and her hubby when they were living in New Zealand.
Heh… ROTFLRHMBBAO! Oh no unemployed lunatic Pluto boy moron arrived. Must be he just woke up from his long unemployed sleep.
YLB @43
I have been following the story of a couple of the jobs he actually ended. The TALGO plant in Milwaukee, which was closed following the completion of the 4 trains on order. THE 2 Oregon bought will soon be in service, the 2 Wisconsin trains will be stored, and TALGO is suing for breach of contract.
44) The Orions were a good product, just too much saturation in the market. I thought METRO should have gone with New Flyer to begin with, but competition among suppliers is good. It is Times like this, and the Issaquah class boats,that I see why Washington state ferries only trust one ships to do the final assembly of new boats, although some work is done in other yards and barged to Harbor Island. That yard has been around awhile.
Did some loony tune member of an idiot end times cult pass gas?
@47 Presumably, if the Badger State’s current rush to become the new Mississippi continues, those two remaining Talgo trainsets will be had by someone at a very good price. Walker would no doubt love to line up all the former employees at the factory to be forced to watch them demolished, similar to what the folks at Northrup had to endure with the end of the B49 program, but if the company retains ownership he’ll probably have to express his contempt some other way.
@43 Unfortunately, “voters” and “remember” don’t often fit together. The American body politic isn’t collectively stupid, but does tend in general to have the attention span of a school of goldfish.
50,
I would rather have seen them brought to where they will be used, but the 2 Oregon bought, will be enough for Amtrak Cascades, for the decade, and they were built to a different spec. One big difference, besides more American components in the Oregon sets, is the lack of business class on the Wisconsin sets. On Amtrak Cascades, in Business Class, it’s a little more for a ticket, but 2×1 seating. Although I don’t agree with Snyder on much, but Walker and Kasich make it seem all Republicans hate rail, when Michigan and Virginia are continuing to invest.
@31 Why are you against good-paying American jobs for hard-working American workers?
Rumor had it that if Talgo had won the Midwest contract, they would have moved production to Illinois. That would have been good revenge. That and a whisper campaign to other businesses. The company that did win the big multi-state contract set up shop in Illinois, Rochelle to be exact. Talgo has it’s USA headquarters in Seattle. The company did everything they were asked, and a change in government ruined everything. There would have been ongoing maintenance,as Talgo does it in-house because they don’t trust US railroads, after their experiences in the 1950s.
Funny how wingers think everyone except them should work for minimum wage, and there should be no minimum wage.
@ 45
Art, I’ll work on finding the recipe – I made it the first time, and my better half decided she could do a better job with it and took over.