Wall Street’s Greed Game

Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s plan to right the wrongs:

http://redstaterebels.org/2008/09/wall-streets-greed-game/

The real reason for the financial crisis

Watch the video and give us your impression:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5tZc8oH–o

Your government at work: couple arrested for trafficking chocolate

This should make every American (and Canadian) seeth with anger:

http://www.naturalnews.com/024304.html

Speed Street apartments vacated – will it reduce crime?

The old Speed Street School building, located at 901 Speed Street, and long ago renovated for apartment dwelling, has been declared unfit for habitation. Thirty residents have been given thirty days to vacate their apartments. The area around these apartments has been the scene of numerous crimes over the past year or more, though no resident (to our knowledge) of the apartments has been accused of any crimes. Will the crime rate in the area be affected by the dislocations? What’s your opinion?

Entergy sued by Attorney General Hood

Attorney General Jim Hood is accusing Entergy of buying electricity and fuel at inflated rates from its sister companies, and then overcharging customers. Entergy, as has been reported before, is refusing Hood’s request for internal company information about fuel prices, and has gone to federal court to block Hood from gaining access to it. Do you suppose Entergy is hiding something?

Bare your booty with saggy jeans?

How do you feel about people who allow their underwear to be exposed by loosely fitted pants? Lots of towns and school districts are banning the practice. Here’s the experience of one…

A law that landed a Florida teenager in jail for having sagging jeans that exposed his underwear is unconstitutional, a judge has decided.

The 17-year-old spent a night in jail after police arrested him for exposing 4in (10cm) of boxer shorts in Riviera Beach, south-east Florida.

Town voters backed the law in March after supporters raised a petition.

However, a circuit judge ruled that the law was unconstitutional based on “the limited facts” of the case.

Carol Bickerstaff, defending teenager Julius Hart, had urged Judge Paul Moyle to throw out the law, saying: “Your honour, we now have the fashion police.”

Before making his ruling, Judge Moyle said: “We’re not talking about exposure of buttocks. No. We’re talking about someone who has on pants whose underwear are apparently visible to a police officer who then makes an arrest, and the basis is he’s then held overnight.”

Gaining popularity

Moves to ban baggy or saggy jeans are gaining popularity in several parts of the US.

Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia are among the larger US cities considering similar measures.

However, civil liberties groups say such laws will unfairly target young African-Americans.

The fashion is believed to have originated in prisons, where inmates are given baggy uniform trousers and have their belts removed to prevent hangings and beatings.

The trend made it to gangster rap videos in the 1980s and then spread to skateboarders and high-school hallways.

Should a similar ordinance be made law in Vicksburg?

Mississippi’s big-3 universities – football powerhouses not

Ole Miss won three national football championships (1959, 1960, and 1962) under the leadership of coach John Vaught. Neither Mississippi State nor Southern Mississippi has ever come close. In recent years the three programs have failed to produce teams of national note. This past weekend saw all three go down to defeat. What’s the problem? Do you think Mississippi will ever again produce a national football championship? What would you recommend the universities do to get back on the winning track?

Vicksburg’s best restaurants

It’s been a while since we’ve surveyed Vicksburg’s restaurants, with some disappearing, others opening since the last poll. Which do your recommend? Share your experiences, good and bad.

Dog & cat foods – which is best for your pet?

The links below are just two of many that review the bewildering number of dry and canned dog and cat foods available to consumers. Ordered by USPS or UPS shipment, however, the costs can be prohibitive. Share your opinion, with special emphasis upon foods that can be purchased locally in Vicksburg.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

http://www.rateitall.com/t-354-cat-food-brands.aspx

Davenport trial ends in mistrial

The jury could not reach a verdict in the trial of Dane Davenport, the Mississippi Highway Patrolman accused of molesting two boys. A new trial is planned.

Letter to Bill O’Reilly re evacuees

Comments on the following letter are welcome.

 

Subject: Louisiana Evacuations & Shelters

Date: Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:3 1:31 +0000

 

           Hello Mr. O’Reilly,

 

           I am a nurse who has just completed working approximately 120

 hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in

Shreveport, Louisiana over the last 7 days.  I would love to see someone

look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective.  Local and national

 news channels have covered the evacuation and “horrible” conditions the

evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav. True – some things were

not optimal for the evacuation and the shelters need some modification.

           At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or

 irresponsibility) of the evacuees?

           Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone,

 charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their child’s insulin?

           Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks

 immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on all

 medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current bottle

 (most of which are narcotics)?

           Isn’t the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford

 a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet they

 can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of Vodka, and

 return to consume them secretly in the shelter?

           Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming

 evacuees so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer staff

 and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol and weapons

 being brought into the shelter?

           Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub

 emesis from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby,

 watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the pillow to

 comfort her own son?

           Why does it incense me to hear a man say “I ain’t goin’ home

 ’til I get my FEMA check”  when I would love to just go home and see my daughters

 who I have only seen 3 times this week?

           Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must

 find a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while

 the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free

 medications under the disaster rules?

           Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is

 paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the

 shelter provides a “day care”?

           Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I

 facilitating it with my work?

           Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I

 hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days being

 called every curse word imaginable, felt threatened and feared for my personal

 safety in the shelter?

 

           Exhausted and battered but hopefully pithy,

           Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN

The end of our “empire?”

Though it has been obvious through the loss of its manufacturing base and the immense increase in its debts that the United States was mortgaging its future, there remained two ultra-significant entities in which we remained world leaders, to wit, our financial institutions and our military. With the tremendous losses that our financial institutions are now experiencing, and the loss of confidence in them, our country is on the verge of losing its claim to being the “financial capital of the world.” Should we also allow our military to deteriorate, the one remaining bulwark of strength will be lost.

There is no easy path to reclaiming our leadership of the world, and the comfortable lifestyle such position provided to each of us. The years ahead will be very difficult. Of extreme importance is the ability of our military to face any challenges hurled at a country perceived to be badly weakened. When you vote in November, you would be wise to take a careful look at the positions of each of the candidates on this vital issue.

Dow down 504 points – will it affect you?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 504 points Monday (9/15/08), one of the worst performances on record. Obviously, anyone holding stocks was affected. But will the decline in the stock market affect us all in other ways? Which way will the Dow head from here? What alternative investments do you have or recommend? Gold? Real estate? Bonds? Your comments are welcome.

Goodby, earth: Large Hadron Collider online

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and highest-energy particle accelerator complex, intended to collide opposing beams of protons charged with approximately 7 TeVs of energy. Its main purpose is to explore the validity and limitations of the Standard Model, the current theoretical picture for particle physics. It crosses the border between Switzerland and France at four points, but most of it is in France. The collider will undergo its initial tests today, and will gradually be brought up to “top speed” over a period of several months.

 

Some scientists fear that the machine will inadvertently create a micro “black hole,” and the earth will be quickly erased from existence. Others have ruled out the possibility that the LHC will create any kind of doomsday scenario, countering that the black holes that the LHC could theoretically create don’t even have enough energy to light up a light bulb. On the other hand, the U.K.’s Astronomer Royal put the odds of destroying the world at 1 in 50 million.

 

If you’d like to learn more about the LHC, see http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/ or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Hadron_Collider, and associated articles.

 

What’s your opinion? Will earth be destroyed in a nano-second of conflagration?

Fannie, Freddie, and you

The US government has entered the mortgage business! With your tax dollars! Government action to take over the two mortgage giants is a huge step toward socialism, with more to come should it decide to bail out more big banks/investment firms and the US auto companies. The nation’s (your) debt just doubled to… some say $8,000,000,000, others say $56,000,000,000! Yes, that’s trillions that must be repaid by you and your heirs. Is hyperinflation in our future? Will the USA become a “banana republic?” What is your reaction?