Posts from — October 2010

McClatchy reports on the travails of our Republican candidate for governor under those “socialists” in Washington that he is always complaining about: Rick Scott’s tax returns show Florida GOP candidate thriving under Obama

TALLAHASSEE — Rick Scott blames President Barack Obama for the nation’s economic woes, but Florida’s Republican nominee for governor is doing far better now than he did under the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency.

That’s according to Scott’s last three years of tax returns, which portray a man who, like more and more out-of-work Floridians, earns no wages.

But unlike most of the state’s 1 million unemployed workers, Scott earns millions from a long list of investments.

Scott’s adjusted gross income in 2009 was $7.87 million, more than double what he made in 2008 during Bush’s last year in office. Not only did his income grow under Obama, he paid less in federal taxes — 13 percent — than he did the previous year when Uncle Sam took 16 percent.

But everyone knows that the facts have a liberal bias. Just because the stock market consistently does better when there is a Democrat in the White House is no reason to think that there might be a connection.

They don’t raise taxes, the just jack up fees and fines.

From the Miami Herald this typical occurrence: New fees law hurting small businesses

Small businesses across Florida have been dissolved under a new law that requires owners to pay thousands of dollars in fines they say they can’t afford.

Mary Annis is one of those business owners. For the past 15 years, her North Palm Beach-based firm Bluegrass Lawn Care Inc. has paid a $150 annual report filing fee to the state each year. In 2010, she missed the deadline.

Annis learned last week that she must fork over $750 to the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations if she wants to remain incorporated.

Blame it on e-mails that Annis said she never received from the state.

In May the legislature repealed a law that allowed the Division of Corporations to waive $400 late fees. Before, if the corporation claimed it did not receive notice of the filing deadline, it could be granted a waiver.

The Division of Corporations wanted to eliminate waivers and halve the fines. The legislature just eliminated the waivers, and is plugging holes in their budget with the increase in fines.

The Division of Corporations had already stopped mailing notices to businesses to “save” money, and starting sending e-mails, which means that all a business gets for its $150 is an entry in a data base, literally a “filing fee”. Spending less than a dollar of that fee to mail a post card was apparently extravagant.

There is noting like giving the voters some power if you want to bring out the corporations to oppose. A lot of newspapers are coming out with editorials opposing the Amendment, all for the same two reasons: it will be too expensive, and it will cost jobs.

Using the Ballotpedia Amendment 4 page [they have links for the claims made]:

County and city commissioners evaluate comprehensive plan amendments after proposed changes are reviewed by the local planning commission, vetted by the public (via public hearings), receive recommendations from local government planning staff, receive input from seven state agencies and are approved by Florida’s Department of Community Affairs According to state records, in fiscal year 2006, there were 6,406 amendments to local comprehensive plans. If passed, Amendment 4 would require a taxpayer-funded referendum for all such changes.

They have a link to the text of the Amendment on the page so you can read it yourself. It is short and to the point – same process as is currently used, but the last step is a vote by the people, not just the city or county commissioners.

We are told that this will lead to litigation, but the current process leads to litigation, so that doesn’t change. OTOH, judges are a good deal less likely to overrule a referendum than a commission vote, and, in any case, a NO vote simply means that the current plan won’t be altered to accommodate someone, i.e. the law stands as written.

[Read more →]

Position: 37.3N 41.1W [10 AM CDT 1500 UTC].
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 43 mph [69 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [105 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [120 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 987 mb ↓.

Currently about 770 miles [1245 km] West of the Azores.

Otto has transitioned to an extratropical storm and no further advisories will be issued.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

MSNBC has an interesting story: FBI busted tracking student, demands GPS spy gear return.

You really need to look at the picture of the device. You are not apt to see anything like that these days … outside of a museum. What a relic of a bygone age.

The FBI continues to buy stuff from the old-time police supply houses that is five years out of date before it appears in their catalogs. It’s just sad to see that D-cell battery pack as part of the unit.

First off, you tap into the vehicle’s electrical system for power, you don’t use a battery pack, and you can get a tiny GPS transmitter for 10% of what they paid for that dinosaur. The installer should practice on the same model car as the target to minimize the time needed and determine the best mounting location for concealment and signal power.

You could build a good one from scratch with a cellphone motherboard that has GPS capabilities.

Sophisticated criminals around the world are breathing easier knowing how incompetent the FBI is. Is it any wonder they still don’t have a working network after decades of trying?

Position: 33.9N 48.7W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 38 mph [61 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [115 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 220 miles [350 km].
Minimum central pressure: 988 mb ↑.

Currently about 935 miles [1510 km] East of Bermuda.

Otto peaked and is beginning to weaken over the cooler water.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

John Winston Lennon

1940-1980

From license plates in Florida to stamps in Central Asia, not bad for a working-class guy from Liverpool in only forty years.

When US politics get to be too much I go with British satire at Newsbiscuit:

• Technology taking the fun out of country house murders, says Hercule Poirot
• New generation of missionaries sets sail for Third World to unspread word of Christianity
• France demands Al Qaeda repeat its terror threat – in French

Satire is under attack in the US. How can you compete with this ad that Jim DeRosa embedded of Christine O’Donnell.

Maybe it’s because I live in Southern Fundistan, but I don’t think dressing in black and being taped against a very dark background was a good idea for the message. At least she avoided using Mussorgski for background music.

Position: 27.8N 60.8W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 21 mph [33 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 85 mph [135 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [170 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 195 miles [315 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 30 miles [ 50 km].
Minimum central pressure: 972 mb ↓.

Currently about 390 miles [630 km] Southeast of Bermuda.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Wild Blue… Yonder

What was that?

[Editor: This little guy was asleep on the edge of an old wooden screen door when I finally got a picture of him.

Friday Ark is still at sea.

According to the CNN report, the White House has managed to do something right, and used a “pocket veto” on Bill H.R. 3808, the Interstate Recognition of Notarizations Act of 2010.

Because this is a House bill and the House is not in session, by not signing the bill President Obama has effectively killed it. Veto messages have to be sent to the originating chamber of Congress, and there is no one to accept it.

This bill was passed by voice votes in both the House and the Senate, and would have impacted the ability of states to deal with the current problem of fraudulent foreclosures. This was quite similar to the retroactive immunity bill that protected the telcos from being sued over their assistance with illegal government wiretapping.

Susie Madrak responds to the whinging from the White House in Why don’t you love me? Uh, let me count the ways.

All of the bills promoted as actions by the White House and Congress in the last two years have one common theme – they are good for corporations, not people.

Position: 24.1N 66.6W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [070°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 60 mph [ 85 kph].
Wind Gusts: 70 mph [110 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 90 miles [150 km].
Minimum central pressure: 992 mb.

Currently about 575 miles [930 km] South of Bermuda.

Otto has transitioned into a true Tropical Storm.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 23.5N 68.2W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [000°] near 3 mph [ 6 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph [100 kph].
Wind Gusts: 75 mph [115 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 990 mb.

Currently about 640 miles [1035 km] South-Southwest of Bermuda.

This has been and will probably continue to be a rain event, although it is to be hoped not as bad as Nicole. It has been affecting Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Leeward Islands.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

I’m hit and miss right now because rather than working on the computer most of the day I’m dealing with the water heater from hell.

It started simply enough with replacing the sacrificial anode rod because when certain types of them corrode they become centers for bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide gas as a by-product so your shower smells like a rotten egg.

So far I have possibly successfully replaced the main shut off valve for the apartment, but the replacement water heater isn’t hooked up yet. Oh, yes, there is no longer a lake inside running from the bathroom through the living room to the kitchen, so the resident cat doesn’t hate me quite as much as she did. [There’s a lot of water in one of those things.]