White River Junction PO Stamped

So then how are Vermonters that aren't retired millionaire bankers with their own megaphones doing? How are the 99% doing on their roads to prosperity?
In the Upper Valley and White River Junction for the next three months, postal workers have job uncertainty to spare. Two hundred and forty-five good-paying USPS jobs are at stake. William Creamer Jr., president of Local 301 of the National Postal Mail Handlers Union told the Valley News:

the White River Junction [USPS] plant, which employs 245 people, was one of eight plants around New England that received such [closure] notices yesterday, Creamer said. Mail currently sorted in the Upper Valley would instead be routed through Manchester and Burlington. […]The plant closings are part of a national plan to close as many as 252 processing plants affecting more than 100,000 jobs.

This is part of U.S.Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe’s proposal for cutbacks – which may prove to be a death spiral of quality and service cuts for the Postal Service.
The workers at the White River facility (and eight others in New England) are on notice, yet still in limbo, as no decision is final until May. That is when a Congressional moratorium on closing or consolidating postal facilities ends. By that time some resolution of the USPS’ dire financial situation may be achieved. The Vermont Congressional delegation, and Bernie Sanders (ever the supporter of rank-and-file workers) in particular, has expended great effort to try to save these folks' jobs. Senators Leahy and Sanders and Congressman Welch released a joint statement of support reiterating their plans to work to maintain service. In part they said:

We are extremely disturbed that the Postal Service intends to continue with its original plan to close the processing plant at White River Junction. We are pleased that the processing plant in Essex Junction was spared, but what we are saying loudly and clearly is that we will do all that we can to keep the White River Junction processing plant open as well.

What needs to be done first? Local 520 president of the American Postal workers Union explained what they need from lawmakers “If legislation passes that prohibits the service standards from being diminished, that is our only hope,”

The USPS mailing centers handle standard bulk business mail, which includes advertising fliers, periodicals and non-profit solicitations. And, of course, there are the political mailings – when printed and handled locally. Many printers and supporting mail-fulfillment businesses rely on the postal center for efficient handling of bulk shipping orders. We can expect that large ripples – even waves – from much more than just 245 lost jobs and their lost incomes and spending will flow throughout the area.

Vermont’s business leaders do moan and wail publicly about uncertainty over possible changes to health care costs. Imagine the yelping we'd hear from them if they had to go through employment uncertainty like our postal workers are being put through!

cross posted Green Mountain Daily

Has Lisman’s Campaign crossed a line?

In the most recent entry in their blizzard of “issue” ads Bruce Lisman’s Campaign for Vermont may have crossed a legal line past issue advocacy. TheVermont Press Bureau reports that the Vermont Democratic Party thinks so, and has filed a complaint with the Attorney General claiming the following about the newest ad’s content:

“such critical and inaccurate hyperbole about the Governor can only be viewed as furthering the purpose of opposing his candidacy and/or influencing the outcome of the governor’s election.”

The ad targets by name Governor Shumlin over the state budget that Lisman claims may increase property taxes.

If the VDP complaint is supported it would mean millionaire Lisman’s Campaign for Vermont has violated their 501(C) (4) status. A registered 501(C) (4) can accept unlimited donations and does not have to disclose donor’s names but is constrained to issue advocacy.

If organizations want to advocate expressly for the victory or defeat of a specific candidate, they have to register as political action committees, abide by $2,000 donation limits and disclose the names of their donors.

Transparency is one key to a functioning democracy was title of the Campaign for Vermont’s initial public offering distributed throughout the state. Says Lisman“…the lack of government transparency ignited me into action”
Maybe donor transparency is one key to a functioning advocacy. So, come on Bruce, be a transparent Campaign for Vermont. This change might put you in bind but it would get your preaching and practicing into functional alignment.

A Wealth Gap Runs through Charities

Income and wage inequality issues have found their way solidly into the news maw lately. The Occupy movements and President Obama’s re-embrace of the issue as he gears up for re-election in 2012 have helped keep economic inequity in the spotlight. And for years Vermont’s Senator Bernie Sanders has been reliably speaking out about the US wealth gap. He routinely quotes this startling fact
In 2007, "the top 1 percent of all income earners in the United States made 23.5 percent of all income," which is "more than the entire bottom 50 percent." This pattern of economic extremes has trickled down to the US charitable sector says a group dedicated to making foundations more effective, Caring for Change

The top 2.5 percent of charities that report data to the Internal Revenue Service have over 50 percent of the sector's wealth and bring in over 60 percent of charities' annual revenues. Colleges, hospitals, and primary health-care facilities dominate that top tier. In contrast, human-service groups, which account for more than a third of all charitable organizations, have only about 13 percent of annual revenues and 11 percent of assets.

This two tiered situation is particularly troubling as all levels of government embrace austere budgets, cut back on programs and encourage private charities to take up the slack. Some of the most under-resourced organizations Caring for Change says are often the ones that want to deal with suffering communities in decline but are often challenged by lack of resources.

Another private sector feature casting its shadow on the non-profit world is the pay gap between upper level executives and staff.

Indeed, some top-tier charitable institutions further exacerbate inequality through their own internal practices. Far too many of them pay salaries that put senior executives in the top 1 percent of earners, often while having a large base of staff at or near minimum wage.

And Vermont is not immune from upward pressure on non-profit executive pay packages. A Vermonter involved in non-profit work defended departing Fletcher Allen CEO’s pay package of $826,000 plus performance bonus of $245,000.He described the amount as “right” and said under-compensation was the challenge. Health and health cost related issues are major causes for families plunging into poverty so spending patterns in the non-profit hospital sector is particularly important part of a safety net. However according to Caring for Change

two-thirds of non-profit hospitals dedicated less than 2 percent of their total expenses to charitable medical care only 7percent dedicated more than 5 percent.

And finally the ironic charitable deduction:

...the tax deduction for charitable gifts benefits only those who itemize their returns -- the wealthiest Americans -- while it costs government revenue that might otherwise go to serve people and communities in economic distress. In other words, the deduction itself can be seen as exacerbating economic inequality.

Speaking from experience-

Or how I wasted most of the morning online while some paint dried. But the internets are great for research and one of the best time wasting tools I know of.

Vermont’s Peter Shumlin says VtBuzz
is among six other governors named in an article: Rookie Governors: Who's Doing Very Well?

Well good enough, that’s something I agree with more often than not. Nice little blurb for the Governor, but who is handing out this honor? Following the link from VtBuzz takes you to
Governing Magazine which is found on a serious looking think-tanky website. Digging around I found a couple of the editors have early backgrounds with Forbes and Ladies Home Journal. The new director of The Governing Institute (Governing Magazine’s parent) is the former long-term auditor and one term mayor of Kansas City. He was the first mayor not to win re-election since 1920 and was almost recalled ahead of the vote. Among many of his troubles while in office was the appointment he made of a member of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (an anti-immigrant group) as the Kansas City parks and recreation commissioner.

So who or what is behind this online magazine and this think-tankery?

Governing Magazine is a longtime publication that changed hands three years ago and is now associated with E.Republic an online publisher of Government Technology, Emergency Management and Public CIO. E.Republic is owned by the Church of Scientology which amidst some controversy purchased Governing from The St.Petersburg Times in 2009. Surprisingly the Times had been running a lengthy expose on Scientology prior to the sale.

Does any of this matter much in this case? Probably not. But why not know who the owner/funder of a think tank and associated publication may be? And it helped pass the time this morning while some paint dried.

Regulating “pro-lifers” and the Brand

The Environmental Evangelical Network (EEN) a green evangelical “pro-life” group that supports EPA rules limiting harmful mercury is catching the wrath of fellow “pro-lifers”. The EEN favors specific restrictions on emissions from power plants because they will protect the health of the unborn. The EEN critics maintain that to portray safeguards against environmental hazards as “pro-life” is to “obscure the meaning of the term.”

While the EEN’ers still deny that human activity is driving global warming the group has urged support for regulatory restrictions by sponsoring TV, radio ads and billboards. A spokesman spells out their view this way: “We believe protecting the unborn from mercury poisoning is a consistent pro-life position,” Mercury exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness in infants. Low doses may result in developmental delays affecting walking, talking, attention span and learning disabilities.

However the EEN’s broader views and actions spell trouble for them from 30 other religious “pro-lifers” and conservative anti-EPA legislators including, The Family Research Council and Sen. James Inhofe. It appears these critics see a threat to the “pro-life” brand name. Says Inhofe about the EEN’s position: “To claim that EPA’s devastating, job-killing regime is somehow ‘pro-life’ is absurd.”

This is trouble junction in terms of controling of the issue when a brand boundary gets blurred and is no longer focused as they wish it to be. And worse still for Sen. Inhofe is the intersecting issue with his longtime pet villain, the “job-killing” EPA. Imagine the EPA protecting life?

Good News ! Vermont Fishing is Hot !

The person who wrote the following Vermont State webpage’s wintertime recreation press release
“Fishing is Hot on Lake Champlain… and some memorable fish have been caught in recent weeks” probably didn’t have strontium or cesium in mind .But it certainly blends well with the Vermont chief radiologist’s news that a fish from Northern Vermont’s Lake Carmi tested positive for low levels of strontium-90 and cesium-137. The preliminary results are in the same range as found last August in a Connecticut River fish near Vermont Yankee. Bill Irwin, chief of radiological health for the Vermont Department of Health says this provides proof of what he had already decided …err hypothesized:

"We take this as some evidence that all fish in Vermont are likely to have radioactive cesium and strontium at these levels and that, as we’ve hypothesized, it is from nuclear weapons fallout and the releases of Chernobyl. All of us are glad to have proof and not just conjecture."

Good news! Call the tourist board because all the in Vermont fish contain radioactive strontium 90 and cesium. However if this shows the Lake Carmi fish was contaminated by nuclear weapons fallout and the Chernobyl disaster I shouldn’t think it takes our leaking Vermont Yankee out of contention as an additional source for contamination of Connecticut River fish.
Although the Lake Carmi fish had cesium in edible and inedible parts and strontium was found only in the samples bones, head, fins and scales. The Vermont Yankee fish had high levels of strontium 90 in the bones and small but measurable levels in the meat unlike the Lake Carmi fish.

A fish taken from the Connecticut River in 2010 had the highest levels of strontium-90 in bone that his department has seen in any samples.
"In that same sample we did find very low but measurable amounts of strontium-90 in the meat of the fish," said Irwin, which could have been a sampling or contamination error. "But we don’t know that."

The Lake Carmi fish as proof (not all "evidence" is "proof") reminds me of the line from the Nick Danger comedy skit where a supposed time traveler says “I have proof I’ve been to Ancient Greece! See look at this grape!” The Vermont chief radiologist found a grape.
Just remember, Bill Irwin is a culturally-sensitive guy looking out for you and your radiological health:

"There’s no danger in eating the fish," said Irwin. "Should we ever find that there are reasons to restrict diet from any sampling for any kind of radioactive or toxicological events, we would keep in mind different cultures have different diets."

Ever wonder how much local fish Bill Irwin eats?

Entergy Makes its Gesture

Well Entergy of Louisiana can’t keep the valves at the plant oiled but they do keep their legal team lubricated with money. Entergy’s legal team was successful in the challenge to Vermont’s law covering Vermont Yankee operating past 2012.The Times Argus reports that Entergy has sent a message from New Orleans demanding Vermont pay $4.6 million in legal fees they claim they incurred in the suit against the State of Vermont.

Reacting to this news Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell said he had thought the claim from Entergy would be “in seven figures” more in line with Vermont standards. The Attorney General says “I guess it [$4.6 million] shows the ‘David-versus-Goliath’ aspect of the case,” The mismatch is suitable but it’s kind of an ill fit otherwise for this situation as Goliath has won and is now making demands from David after this part of battle.

It also seems Sorrel had a surprising hope. Against all past dealings with Goliath he thought Entergy might make a gesture of being a good corporate citizen to atone for sins of the past.

Sorrell said he had even thought Entergy might not seek legal fees in a gesture of being “a good corporate citizen making up for the sins of the past and the misleading statements about the underground pipes.”

Sorrell had investigated Entergy officials for more than a year for possible criminal charges for the misstatements about underground pipes, which were later found to be the source of radioactive tritium leaking at the plant in 2010. Entergy executives had said such pipes did not exist.

Under pressure they grudgingly admitted to miss communicating about underground pipes.No criminal charges charges were filed; no case was brought so why would Entergy feel it had sinned? Hardly sinning in Goliath’s rule book, maybe in the eyes of Entergy Corp the only sin is losing.

Vermont State Police Cruiser Decals Sport a Pig

See an important Sneigwhblog news headline UPDATE below

Vermont State Police cruiser decals are sporting a pig shaped splotch.
Someone wasn’t connecting the spots on the Vermont Sate Police decals made by the Vermont Correctional Industries Print Shop until it was too late. About 30 decals on VSP cruisers now feature a cow with a splotch shaped like a pig.

Apparently someone at the Correctional Industries shop altered the cow.
The Burlington Free Press says two state senators who former police officers are found some humor in it and one noted:

"This is not as offensive as it would have been years ago. We can see the humor," State Senator Flynn said.
He said the artist has talents that could be used elsewhere. "If that person had used some of that creativeness he or she would not have ended up inside."

But a State Police Major’s press release statement bemoaned that the cost of the joke will be borne by taxpayers.
No one suggested keeping the decal cow,pig and all.


Updated!
Now along with a Save the Pig petition it naturally follows that there is a Facebook page too
Save the Pig

Facebook Save the Piggie page

Vermont!

The NRC says: “… we mean it.”

Woof,woof! The NRC is feeling good about itself. Sounding pumped, like a lean mean nuclear regulatin’ machine on their "blog" where they declare: “When the NRC says we consider new and significant information, we mean it.”
The story is that errors in recently submitted information were found during a review process for equipment replacement at an existing plant in the Southern US. Based on this new significant information the NRC found that designs for a new Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR) plant might have similar errors.
What is the upshot of these NRC discoveries? It could mean the NRC must revise reports and/or have the applicants make changes to design control documents which will delay their final decision on design certification. New information comes to light, consideration given to the new facts, followed by regulatory action. Has a watchdog stirred?

“We mean it” yips the NRC watchdog. Well, ok calm down. So let’s say significant new information about potential seismic activity near an existing plant (let’s call it Indian Point-which rhymes with Vermont Yankee) was readily available; the NRC would of course considerate it in the ongoing relicensing process. Well not exactly as a former oil industry geologist writing in a vtdigger.com opinion piece points out:

Judging by Indian Point, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission may be forcing us to base Vermont Yankee’s geologic risk analysis on antiquated data:“Much new seismological information is available since their initial approvals (of Indian Point) in 1973 and 1975. Nevertheless the US NRC, so far has not permitted any new information to be used or old information on which the original licenses were granted to be contested in considering extension of licenses,” according to a 2008 study by researcher Lynn Sykes.

New York State has an aggressive attorney general who has called upon the NRC to do a comprehensiveColumbia University seismic review as part of their Indian Point relicensing process. The New York AG must have considered significant the findings from 2008 by seismologists. They found that two intersecting fault lines near Indian Point were capable of creating a 7.0-magnitude earthquake. Despite all this, none of this recent information is incorporated into the current NRC process.

Now remember clearly the NRC claims–“When we say we consider new and significant information, we mean it”. Well, except when there are significant fault lines.

Sadly it's a Fake Washington Post

Yes it's a fake. Guess this happens often as pointed out here.

National Lampoon in 1972 did a faux front page with then President Richard Nixon yucking it up at the headline news that Senator George McGovern won the Democratic nomination to run against him.
Interestingly for several years many historians believed this to have been the last and final image ever taken of Nixon laughing.However it is now common knowledge that Nixon never had the last laugh.




http://apple.copydesk.org/2012/01/22/no-this-is-not-a-real-front-page-from-the-washington-post/

Hollywood:"We do some of that (online) stuff…”

Inattentional blindness, a term for when a person fails to notice and react to stimulus that is in plain sight came to my mind while reading a rundown of last week’s SOPA/PIPA drama.

The demise of the dual Senate and House internet piracy bills is the latest in an ongoing almost traditional battle by two sides competing to influence policy. Thrown into this struggle of money power and influence is the capacity of the internet to quickly inform and gather opposition. One side and notably some powerful congressional players appear to have been thoroughly been blindsided by this capacity.


One report on Hollywood blindness says:

Some Hollywood executives acknowledge their own flat-footedness in trying to marshal public opinion as opposition mounted. While technology companies brandished the power of the Internet, Hollywood relied on old-media weapons such as television commercials and a billboard in New York's Times Square. It proved to be too little, too late.
One entertainment-company lawyer complained that opposing arguments were often inaccurate but spread like wildfire anyway on the Internet, leaving supporters scrambling to correct the information without the benefit of a strong online network.
"We do some of that (online) stuff, but it has to go through a committee of 14 people," he said. "The other side doesn't have conference calls. They just put stuff out there."

Where has the Hollywood entertainment industrial complex been? An amazing remark when you consider the Arab spring events and more recently the ongoing Occupy movements (or simply the last ten years of media upheaval) amply demonstrated the applied power of internet. Even the regular TeeVee news and radio broadcasters reported this for all to see -not sure if it was posted on any billboards. Television commercials and the Times Square billboards couldn’t turn the tide.

Sen. Schumer gets it says Sen. Wyden

A report on this week’s SOPA and PIPA drama lists winners and losers. Google,Rep.Darrel Issa, Reddit and Sen. Ron Wyden landed on the winning side according to thehill.com

Rep.Lamar Smith, Sen. Patrick Leahy the MPAA and the Chamber of Commerce soundly on the losing end.

And President Obama coming in late to the parade is somewhere in the mushy middle or muddle.
It is a surprising mix of players from business groups,corporations and both political parties planted on both ends of the victory.

Washington Posts blogger Greg Sergeant observes it was “a huge victory for grassroots online organizing” and wonders about lessons learned:

Does the Senate Dem leadership really understand that its approach was a major threat to what makes the Internet a democratic force and that it needed a complete overhaul?

Senator Ron Wyden, the primary driver of opposition to the bill within the Senate, and he confirmed that the leadership grasps the depth of the problems with its approach, and is ready to address them head on.

Wyden singles out Sen. Schumer for grasping the situation and says he has “really now come to understand what’s happened in technology,”

Vermont's Senator Leahy is less understanding and to put it mildly disappointed with the outcome in his statement released after Majority Leader Reid killed the senate bill. Leahy’s stern warning raises the specter that Chinese and Russian criminals may even now

"...smugly be watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy And warns But the day will come when the Senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem."

Vermont Yankee: ‘yup tires still bald’

Entergy according to the Times Argus is seeking NRC permission for Vermont Yankee to stop a current required inspection routine.

Instead of inspecting the steam dryer every time it shuts down for refueling, on average every 18 months, as currently required, Entergy wants to inspect it every seven refueling outages, or once every 10 years or so.

This is as if Vermont Yankee having been granted permission to drive a 40 year old nuclear vehicle with bald tires well above the legal speed limit has grown bored; bored with examining their old worn tires and repeatedly finding them still worn and tread-less ‘yup still bald’. So they want to stop the bother and expense of looking altogether. Simply put, if they ain’t looking they ain’t finding.
According to reports as of July 2010 required VY inspections discovered a total of 65 cracks. Entergy maintains that despite these "non relevant" cracks the steam dryer is in “good shape”.

The routine inspections are part of requirements the NRC placed on Entergy VY when it permitted the 40 year old plant to operate at 20 percent greater power production than the original design. A steam dryer is used to remove water from steam before it enters the power plant turbine. While not considered officially safety equipment by the NRC dryer failure can impact components that are. A test power up-rate of less than VY’s 20 percent at a similar US Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) plant resulted in major steam dryer failure.

Not that long ago in 2009 VY was happily bragging about their Nuclear Energy Institute(NEI)industry trade group award winning (cost saving) remotely operated steam dryer inspection mechanism. Certainly a clever thing but it wasn’t as if Entergy had an award winning repair to any “non-relevant” cracks in the worrisome steam dryer. They just found a slick way to monitor the steam dryer’s aging –and naturally cut costs.

An annual reduction of 3.6 person-rem of radiation exposure is expected along with a minimum $500,000 cost reduction per outage.

Also not that long ago Entergy hired a Vermont PR firm to splash on a quick fresh coat of PR paint? The IAMVY.com campaign and tagline safe, clean, reliable that resulted ring just as hollow now as in 2009 just before tritium leaks were disclosed. Now Entergy requests permission to practically stop required steam dryer inspections. I propose a new tagline for Vermont Yankee in the form of a question: VY:What could possibly go wrong?

Happy Blackout Day

find out more here

Happy Freaking New Year:Bye 2011

Timely tune

Movin' towards that big 5-0
Headed towards that big 5-0
Now, who's that scarecrow I do see
In the mirror lookin' back at me
Some things you gotta take your shot
Half work out and half do not
The nickel laughs when it gets tossed
Yeah, we're bangin' on that drum now
And shake that rattlesnake
We're plowin' through 'til sunup,
Oh, just tryin' to stay awake––and we're
Headed towards that big 5-0
Headed towards that big 5-0

The NRC: A Snail Pacing

NRC Chairman Jaczko and four of his commissioners have been in an extended wrangle over among other things the speed with which the NRC should act on the post Fukushima disaster safety recommendations made by the Near Term Task Force. Obama appointee Jaczko favored an expedited (by NRC standards) implementation and four of his five commissioners balked favoring more “stakeholder input” and a different time frame (aka snail’s pace?). This disagreement and other ongoing spats, which Senator Bernie Sanders described as an attempted coup against the chairman went high profile this past week in Republican Darryl Issa’s congressional hearings when Jaczko and the NRC commissioners testified.

So when all the dust particles settle, at what speed will the recommendations be moving? According to the NRC's Blog the Near Term Task Force’s recommendations have been handed off to a new group.

[…]The group is called the Japan Lessons-Learned Project Directorate. The directorate will support a steering committee consisting of senior agency managers to coordinate and implement the task force recommendations per with our Commission’s direction, including its goal of striving to implement the recommendations within five years.

An important aspect of our path forward is stakeholder engagement with members of the public. We will seek input through public meetings to help us determine whether changes may be required to improve safety at U.S. nuclear power plants.

In 2008 candidate Obama called the NRC “a moribund agency…captive of the industry that it regulates.”
It still sounds plausible enough three years later.
The Huffington Post reports that vocal Jaczko critic NRC Commissioner Bill Magwood did consulting work for the Fukushima plant’s owner Tepco when he was in the private sector. Not that there is anything wrong with that as the information was provided for his NRC confirmation process.
According to Ryan Grim at Huffington:

Magwood, a Democratic appointee, would be the leading candidate to take Jaczko's gavel if the coup succeeds, according to people familiar with the internal workings of the commission (as well as through a simple process of elimination: the other Democratic panel member is not considered a serious candidate for the chairmanship).

CEO Profit'$ Shine on Brightly ,Quite Insane

Well hard times come no more! According to The Guardian CEO pay survey it just got a little shinier for some in that city on the hill. While austerity and stagnation is the order of the day for the majority of Americans some of the country’s top bosses got pay increases of between 27 and 40% last year.

America's highest paid executive took home more than $145.2m, and as stock prices recovered across the board, the median value of bosses' profits on stock options rose 70% in 2010, from $950,400 to $1.3m

The top of the top came from the health care industry. The head of the world’s largest healthcare firm McKesson’s John Hammergren made over $145million in 2010 the majority from stock options.
Just for laughs here is some local perspective on how much money Hammergren’s $145million is in a human scale. In Vermont, Federal spending cuts to LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding to low-income households) might ultimately result in funding to the state going from $27.5 million in 2011 to approximately $11.6Million for 2012.


One counter-intuitive gravity defying feature of high end pay packages is that stock prices may go down yet compensation continues to head up for some departing and retiring executives. Notice three out of these four highest paid departing or retiring CEOs were leaving companies where shareholder stock prices had declined during their tenure.

Ronald Williams, former head of Aetna, a health insurer, exercised 2.4m options for a profit of $50.4m. Aetna's stock price declined by 70% from when Williams assumed the role of CEO in February 2006 until his retirement. At pharmacy chain CVS, Thomas Ryan made a $28m profit on his options. During Ryan's 13-year tenure as CEO, CVS Caremark's stock price decreased almost 54%.

Omnicare's Joel Gemunder retired last August and received cash severance of $16m, part of a final-year pay package worth $98.28m. Adam Metz, the former boss of General Growth Properties, a real estate company that specialises in shopping malls, walked away with a $46m cash bonus in 2010. GGP executives received nearly $115m in bonuses from the firm as it emerged from bankruptcy.

It may always to be good at the top. However for most Americans, maybe “all they can do is stare from a distance at that city's glimmering towers” (to lift a line from part of a well known speech).

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Hollywood Pagan Penguin Ploy Exposed

Media-wise parents will want to keep their vulnerable children from seeing the politically correct propaganda of HAPPY FEET TWO.

Thought for minute I had fallen for an Onionesque prank on TPM until I followed their link and found that sadly it’s no joke. Happy Feet Two a squeal to last year’s hit animated family film Happy Feet has really raised the hidden liberal agenda warning bells at a christian movie review site.

They warn potential viewers:

Very strong mixed pagan, politically correct worldview promoting homosexual same-sex partnerships and homosexual adoption and promoting radical environmentalism and global warming hysteria throughout, including eating meat is seen as bad as are all humans,

...no sexual content but speaking of “making eggs with other penguins”; no nudity[penguins have tuxedos]; no alcohol; no smoking or drug use; and, children deliberately disobey father, children are rebellious, and comments on existentialism fitting in with humanist elements noted above.

They smoked out a subversive agenda most people could hardly imagine. Leaves one to ponder how the liberal Hollywood propaganda machine can survive this embarrassing setback. Guess this kills plans for Happy Feet Three.

And the workhouses,Newt - are they still in operation?

Newtie the Republican idea man:

“It is tragic what we do in the poorest neighborhoods, entrapping children in, first of all, in child laws, which are truly stupid,” he said.

”I tried for years to have a very simple model,” he continued. “Most of these schools ought to get rid of the unionized janitors, have one master janitor and pay local students to take care of the school. The kids would actually do work, they would have cash, they’d have pride in the schools, they’d begin the process of rising.”

Who but Newt Gingrich could blame child labor laws for entrapping children in poverty and pack so many old dog whistles in such a short remark? But perhaps he was just helpfully offering evidence in support of former Sec. of Labor Robert Reich’s description of the current scrum of Republican candidates.

Reich: They're not conservatives. They're regressives. And the America they seek is the one we had in the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century.

Or, I suppose the strategy minded Gingrich as he headed to South Carolina was just blunting accusations that his recent stance on immigration was humane. I understand that is a bad thing for him in the context of the battle for the Republican nomination.
Anyhow, up in various polls and with undiminished confidence Newt the Gilded Age regressive told ABC News the other night“I’m going to be the nominee,”